Career Blog
Times are evolving, and so are our ways of communicating. These new channels have also found their way into our professional life through the resume, which remains an essential part of career development. Simply put, your resumé allows employers to know who you are and what your skills are; it highlights your experience in an attractive manner. Why is it, then, that we have made it so complicated and clustered?
Over the years, multiple resumé formats have emerged, some more complex than others. Although convoluted, creative formats may seem attractive, we must remember that simpler formats also bring an array of benefits. But what exactly is a simple resume format? A simple resume format is designed to showcase your work experience, skills, and education in a neat and uncluttered fashion. Thanks to its basic style, it makes it easier for hiring managers to review your qualifications and experience.
Recruiters are looking for a clean, calming, and easy-to-read layout (remember that they might be reviewing hundreds of these). They are also looking for any reason to discard applicants (that makes the selection process easier). That means that your fancy font or inventive layout might be a deterrent for your reader, not an asset. In the short term, focus on the most important and essential information to put on your resume.
A classic, simple resumé is a direct way to say exactly what the employer wants to know. Many may find the idea of being so direct awkward, but remember that your resumé is not about what you think looks pretty, nor about what your think will stand out, nor about guessing what the employer wants from you. It is about telling the employer what you can do for them. Stop worrying so much about creating a fancy, uber-creative format, and start figuring out how to explain all the ways you have positively impacted your former employers.
“ Hello, my name is Andrea, and I’m a 4th-year Marketing student. I am also Vice-President of the uOttawa Association des étudiants ivoiriens as well as Director, Marketing, at the Students for Wishes club of the University of Ottawa.
For me, the ideal job would be a position that would allow me to act as a leader, where I could express my creativity, help people and meet new challenges every day.
I had always hesitated between journalism and marketing, but I’ve made my career choice very quickly at a job fair during my last year of high school. I met the Director of Marketing at Orange France (a telecommunication company) with whom I’ve shared my doubts. He explained to me what marketing was and what his job was. It is after this discussion that I fell in love with marketing.
Afterwards, I chose Telfer because of its bilingualism, its fame and its affordable tuition fees for international students.
To new students, I would give the following advice:
- Don’t forget that the organization is your best friend.
- Remember to have fun and to take time to relax.
- Surround yourself with the right people.
- Remain open to others; take advantage of all the opportunities offered to you to build connections.
And don’t wait: four years, it goes by very fast!”
– Andrea Abiyou,
4th‑year Marketing
Inspired by Brandon Stanton’s Humans of New York, this weekly feature of the Telfer Career Blog will contain photography of individuals from the Telfer School of Management community and a corresponding narrative that gives us a glimpse into their lives.
LinkedIn has become an invaluable tool for anyone looking to enter – or grow in – the job market. It is very common for recruiters to look at the LinkedIn profiles of their candidates to know more about them. Indeed, just as your resumé, your LinkedIn profile provides a wealth of relevant information.
Not too familiar with LinkedIn? Don’t worry. Here are three easy tips on how to improve your LinkedIn profile to attract employers.
Tip #1: Generate your personal URL
Did you know that each LinkedIn profile has its own URL? With your personal address, you can easily refer employers to your LinkedIn page, whether from your resumé or from your business card. You can also customize your URL to give it a more personal/professional twist. When you log in on LinkedIn, you can see your personal URL and change it so that it includes your full name.
Tip #2: Ask for endorsements and recommendations
When you add skills to your profile, your contacts can endorse you. You can also ask your contacts to give you recommendations, either in person or directly on LinkedIn. By being endorsed and recommended by your former employers, colleagues and various contacts, you’ll gain in credibility.
Tip #3: Stay active on the platform
Contrary to what you may think, LinkedIn is not a network of you remain inactive once you’ve created your profile. Check your profile regularly and make improvements to keep it up to date. Also, don’t hesitate to share your accomplishments or to congratulate your contacts for their successes. LinkedIn is the ideal platform to promote your activities and the blogs you’ve published.
Finally, don’t forget that the Telfer Career Centre offers workshops focusing on LinkedIn. To know when and where, check out the Calendar of Events. You can also book an appointment with a Career Centre advisor to know how to build and strengthen your LinkedIn profile. You can book an appointment at any time on Career Launch.
“If I wanted people to remember me for something during my four years at the Telfer School of Management, it would be this: whether you are in first, second or third year, whenever you decide to get involved, you’ll start making an impact.
Going to school and focusing solely on your classes is GREAT, but sometimes, you need to realize that there are many other things worth doing at Telfer. Your campus offers many opportunities to meet new people and do new things. To fully benefit from those experiences, however, you need take your focus outside of the classroom. The advice that I want to give first-year students and that I definitely would have liked to receive myself is: HAVE A PLAN! You can come in and simply enjoy the experience, but make sure to figure out what you like and dislike early. If something does not work for you, you’ll be able to make a switch early on.
Most students care a lot about the professional side of Telfer. However, they also have to realize that what they will do as professionals will also impact them as human beings. The Telfer community and its staff in particular are able to show us that it’s not only about becoming the greatest professionals, but also about applying what we’ve learned in classes, at social activities or during networking events in our personal life to become better persons. Not everyone is a social butterfly, therefore a good question we should all ask ourselves is: what could be our plan to get that ONE student involved?”
– Glory Angela Monfleury, 4th-year Accounting
VP Swag, Telfer Competitions Committee
Inspired by Brandon Stanton’s Humans of New York, this weekly feature of the Telfer Career Blog will contain photography of individuals from the Telfer School of Management community and a corresponding narrative that gives us a glimpse into their lives.
One of the many opportunities for students at the Telfer School of Management is networking events.
To put it in the words of Herminia Ibarra, a professor of Organizational Behaviour at the London School of Business, "Networking is a lot like nutrition and fitness: we know what to do, the hard part is making it a top priority.” Part of what needs to be done is preparation. Like networking, pursuing nutrition and fitness require some form of preparation: without it the final goal cannot be achieved.
Here are a few reasons to further emphasize why preparation is important for networking events specifically.
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Preparation Relieves Stress
Presently, as a first‑time networking event attendee you may be wondering: How would I prepare for a networking event? The first step would be to consult the schedule to see which companies will be in attendance and at what time. Then you can do some research on the companies that interest you. Attending my first networking event was a step outside of my comfort zone, but by preparing myself in this way I felt excited to take that step. Knowing your audience will not only help ease your nerves, but it will also get your foot in the door.
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Preparation Helps Create Relationships
Moreover, being aware of what to expect at the event will also give you the chance to prepare tailored questions to help you to further engage and connect with the representatives. Relationships can develop at networking events through these engaging interactions. Referring back to my first networking event, I ended up staying an hour longer than anticipated because I was absorbed in the event. Going into a networking event prepared allows you to participate assuredly, therefore making the event an enjoyable experience.
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Preparation Leads to Unanticipated Opportunities
In addition, many distinct opportunities can present themselves through networking, which can help you progress in your career. According to the Ottawa Business Journal’s “Five reasons why networking is important,” networking encourages the sharing of information that you would not get from regular forms of research. For example, job positions that could be opening up in the future or programs that a company may be offering. The biggest opportunity that will result from preparation will be pitching yourself to potential employers and creating connections for your future.
Overall, it is important to be prepared so that you can network successfully and achieve your goal of getting a job or making some meaningful connections. Like with pursuing nutrition and fitness, your preparation is just the beginning of what needs to be done. Make it a priority! If you are interested in networking, get started by looking over the Calendar of Events on Career Launch.
Make sure to take advantage of the additional resources, help and advise the Career Centre has to offer.
Resources
Herminia Ibarra
Five reasons why networking is important
“What I like most about Telfer is its faculty. For the last three years, I have encountered professors who I think are the most talented and extremely dedicated to helping students acquire new knowledge. I love the way they stir up their students’ curiosity on the subject matters.
My ideal job would be to work in an HR department that strives to create a healthy work environment with a good work-life balance where everyone enjoys working WITH EACH OTHER and to eliminate the stigma related to help-seeking from a mental health professional. I seek a great interest in this career because I have seen my friends at Telfer struggle to balance their schoolwork (or work) and social life and to cope with mental illnesses. Coming from an Asian country where people do not talk or even avoid talking about mental health, my goal is to help everyone realize that it is fine to seek help from others whenever possible, especially if your problems are taking a toll on your mental health. This also inspires me to go back to school and pursue another degree majoring in Psychology.
Due to the COVID 19 pandemic, I am unable to go back to Canada, and I miss Telfer and its lecture halls more than ever. I hope to come back once all of this blows over!”
– Audrey Dam, 4th-year International Management
Student Mentor, Telfer International Club
Inspired by Brandon Stanton’s Humans of New York, this weekly feature of the Telfer Career Blog will contain photography of individuals from the Telfer School of Management community and a corresponding narrative that gives us a glimpse into their lives.
The Career Centre provides many opportunities for students to learn and develop the necessary skills to be successful graduates. The Career Development Certificate (CDC) is designed for students to gain tangible skills that will set you apart from others candidates during your career planning process.
Completing the Career Development Certificate involves attending 10 Career Centre activities: 8 mandatory and 2 optional. The full list of activities included in this initiative can be found on the Career Centre website.
One of the mandatory activities is attending one of the two Career Centre’s annual networking events: Telfer Connects or Telfer Networks. Telfer Connects occurs in September and intended for 3rd‑ and 4th‑year students only. Telfer Networks is open to all Telfer undergraduate students and runs in January. Both events are a great opportunity to network with potential employers and build those professional connections! The workshops required for the CDC are: Who am I: Self-Assessment and Career Testing, Jump Start Your Job Search, Rock your Resume, Ace Your Interview, and Network Like a Pro. Additionally, one needs to book an individual resumé critique and a practice interview with the Career Counsellor or the Professional Development Coordinator. Having your resumé looked over and conducting a mock interview will allow you to feel more comfortable and confident in interviews with employers.
There is a wide range of optional activities that you may choose from to fulfill the requirements. If you are looking for a more casual, smaller group environment, the “Let’s Talk” Series is a good option. You could also book an individual appointment with a Career Counselor to discuss goal setting, job search strategies, industry information, etc. The different Mentorship and Development Programs, including the Professional of Management Consulting Program, the Capital Markets Program, and the Connexions Program can also count towards the CDC.
With the new Career Launch portal, your progress will be automatically tracked and you can see which activities you have left to complete the certificate. Every March participants are invited to attend the Career Centre Celebration to acknowledge those who have completed the initiative and receive an official certificate of completion.
Having completed the Career Development Certificate myself, I can definitely attest to how it has helped me both personally and professionally. Employers are impressed when students attend numerous workshops outside the classroom to continuously learn and improve transferrable skills that are valuable in the workforce. I’m glad I was able to experience this opportunity and hope you consider receiving your Career Development Certificate!
“What I like the most about Telfer is that there are always people there to support you. Whether it be your professors, your classmates, or Telfer alumni, everyone is happy to help answer your questions. Telfer is really one big family and it offers so many different opportunities to help students achieve their goals and become business leaders.
I’d have to say that my happiest and most memorable moments at Telfer come mainly from my involvement in the clubs. Receiving feedback from students after they have attended the events that I helped organize and seeing the impact that it made on their university journey always leaves a smile on my face!
Remembering my goals and looking at the bigger picture are my source of motivation. On days when I feel less motivated, I remind myself with the reasons for why I’m doing what I’m doing. Thinking of the bigger picture has motivated me to work harder to achieve the goals that I have set for myself!”
– Christine Tsay, 3rd‑year Accounting
VP Skill, WMN
VP Finance, HRA
Inspired by Brandon Stanton’s Humans of New York, this weekly feature of the Telfer Career Blog will contain photography of individuals from the Telfer School of Management community and a corresponding narrative that gives us a glimpse into their lives.
Planning is an integral process that applies to various disciplines in life. Artists will envision their paintings before creating their final masterpiece. Athletes will plan their workout routine and diet to reach their fitness goal. If something is important to you, then sufficient time will be spent in planning the process before setting out to achieve it. So, when it comes to your career, no less effort should be devoted to planning how to reach your future aspirations.
Here are six steps to creating a career-focused action plan:
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Determine your career vision
If there is no target in front of you, any attempt to throw a dart will be both meaningless and pointless. Similarly, without a precise vision in mind, you will quickly lose the motivation and purpose in the proceeding steps. For that reason, it is important to take the time to set up a career vision. The more defined your vision is, the more tangible your target becomes in your mind.
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Set SMART Goals
“Setting goals is the first step
in turning the invisible into the visible.” – Tony Robbins.
This is one of the crucial steps in your action plan. Setting precise goals for the short and long term will allow you to allocate your efforts and time appropriately. It will also help you stay focused and allow you to measure how far you are from achieving your vision. There are many goal-setting models available; perhaps the most effective and commonly used is the SMART model.
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Gather information on different requirements and resources available to reach your goal
Once you have set goals in place, the next step is figuring out the requirements and the resources available. In addition to researching, networking can provide you with a lot of industry and professional information related to your field. For that reason, you should leverage networking platforms such as LinkedIn and keep a watch out for different networking events hosted on the Calendar of Events in Career Launch and the Telfer clubs social media pages.
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List the tasks to be performed
Now that you can see the target, know the distance to your target and have gathered some insights on different throwing techniques – it’s time to take a shot. Based on the information gathered in the previous step, list the action items that are required to attain your goals and highlight the resources available for each task. As one of your tasks, register for workshops offered by the Career Centre that focus on career management skills such as resume writing and acing your interviews. Some of these activities can also count towards your Career Development Certificate.
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Track your progress
One of the main features of an action plan is that it allows you to measure your progress. Have something on hand like a visual template that can help you track your progress for each goal and remind you of the next action step. Here is a sample to get you started.
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Reflect and Reassess
People and companies continuously adjust and refine their plans to adapt to their situation, which makes planning a dynamic process. Job requirements, qualifications and processes are changing to satisfy the market’s needs. Therefore, take some time to reflect on the relevance of your goals and tasks, modifying them when necessary.
As we start this academic year, I invite you to take some time to create a career action plan if you don’t have one already. Be sure to make the best use of the resources available to you, especially the services offered by the Career Centre.
Resources
Developing a personal action plan
Goal setting
Finance Overseeing Committe
The mandate of the Finance Overseeing Committee (FOC) is to review the budget of the Career Centre, to discuss the financial management of the Career Centre and to inform undergraduate and graduate students of the Telfer School of Management accordingly.
A total of 10,000 dollars has been reserved for events organized by students. These funds will be allocated during the meeting of Friday, October 9, 2020, at 9 a.m. held virtually through MS Teams. During this meeting, each student representative must give a very brief, two-minute presentation and answer the Committee’s questions. Please note that a trip, participation to an external conference or a sponsorship does not meet our selection criteria.
Proposals that clearly explain: i) how your event will promote the Career Centre and its Career Development Certificate (undergraduate only) to Telfer students; or ii) the exchange of services you intend to provide, will be selected. Details can be found in the application form.
To request funds, you must first discuss your event and your exchange of services proposal with Ms. Ashley Foster, Ms. Dahlia Vinou, or Ms. Gaëlle Faye (for undergraduate projects) and Ms. Caroline Hannah (for MBA projects) at the Career Centre before Tuesday, September 29, 2020.
The application must be submitted by completing all sections of the following form: 2020 FOC Application. The deadline to apply is Thursday, October 1, 2020, at 4 p.m. The application will be submitted to Mr. Matthew Archibald, Director of the Student Services Centre, and Ms. Amanda Richardson, Manager of the Career Centre. Ms. Richardson will acknowledge receipt of your proposal by email and confirm the time of your brief presentation. We will only accept proposals that are submitted by completing the above-mentioned form.
Should you receive funding, you will be required to meet with Ms. Gaëlle Faye regarding your strategy within three weeks of receiving notice.
Should you have any technical difficulties completing the form, please advise Ms. Richardson by email at