With so much conflicting advice about what makes a great resume, it can feel overwhelming to know where to focus your attention. Whether you’re tailoring your resume for the Canadian job market, just starting your career, or updating your resume after several years, your goal is the same: to land an interview.
This guide explains what hiring managers and recruiters look for—and shows you how to create a resume that’s easy to read and clearly shows you’re qualified for the job.
Defining Your Unique Value Proposition (UVP)
A strong resume clearly communicates your unique value proposition (UVP) — a brief 1–2 sentence statement that answers the question:
Why should we hire you over someone else?
Your UVP should highlight three things:
Hiring Motivators: How do you solve a problem or meet a need for the employer?
Supporting Qualifications: What are your key strengths or credentials?
Added Value: What accomplishments distinguish you and add measurable impact?
Example UVP
I demonstrate that employee well-being and productivity growth can go hand-in-hand. I designed a flexible work program that not only improved work-life balance scores by 40% but also boosted overall output by 20%. (3) Unconventional UVPs For Job Seekers | LinkedIn
Your UVP shapes your resume, whether explicitly included in your career summary or simply used as a guiding principle when highlighting your experience.
Choosing the Right Resume Style
There are five main types of resumes:
- Chronological Resume – This is the most common style. It lists your work experience and education in reverse chronological order (most recent first). It’s easy to follow and clearly shows your career progression, which is why many employers prefer it.
- Functional Resume (or Skills-Based Resume) – This style focuses on your skills instead of your job history. It’s sometimes used by people who are changing careers or have gaps in their work experience.
- Hybrid/Combination Resume – This style combines the best of chronological and functional styles. It highlights key skills while also providing a clear list of your past jobs.
- Video Resume – A 1–3-minute video where you introduce yourself and discuss your qualifications. This style is more common in creative fields.
- Online Portfolio – A personal website showcasing projects, skills and experience, often used by creatives and technical professionals.
Organizing Your Resume
- Name &Contact Information
Your resume should begin with your name (in the largest font), phone number, professional email address, city and province, and LinkedIn URL. A full mailing address is unnecessary. This section is the only part of your resume that should include personal information.
- Career Summary
A career summary is a short paragraph or bullet-point list that highlights your key qualifications and the value you bring to the role. It should be tailored to each job you apply for. Career changers and new job seekers may opt to use their UVP here.
Example:
| Job Description Excerpt | Tailored Career Summary |
|---|---|
Marketing Manager We are seeking a Marketing Manager with experience leading cross-functional campaigns, analyzing performance metrics and driving brand growth. Ideal candidates have strong communication skills, digital marketing expertise and a track record of increasing engagement and ROI. | Marketing professional with 7+ years of experience leading cross-functional teams to execute integrated campaigns that drive brand growth and ROI. Skilled in digital marketing, content strategy, and performance analysis, with a proven track record of increasing engagement by 40%. Strong communicator known for aligning marketing efforts with business goals. |
Entry-Level Data Analyst We are seeking an entry-level Data Analyst to collect, clean, and analyze datasets to support business decisions. Responsibilities include identifying trends, creating reports and dashboards (using Excel, Tableau, or Power BI), and collaborating with cross-functional teams to meet data needs. Candidates should have a bachelor’s degree in a related field, strong analytical and communication skills, proficiency in Excel and SQL, and familiarity with data visualization tools. Experience with Python or R and hands-on project or internship work analyzing data is an asset. | Detail-oriented and motivated data analyst with hands-on training in data analysis, Excel, SQL, and data visualization tools like Tableau and Power BI. Skilled at cleaning and analyzing datasets, spotting trends, and presenting insights through clear reports and dashboards. Completed practical projects applying statistical analysis and visualization to real-world problems. Strong communicator with experience collaborating across teams to deliver data-driven solutions. |
Work Experience
List your work experience in reverse chronological order, including:
- Job title
- Name of company/organization (City, country or city, province)
- Dates of employment (Month YYYY – Month YYYY)
- Key accomplishments, not just duties
Highlighting Accomplishments
Instead of listing job responsibilities, focus on achievements and impact. Use action verbs and quantify results where possible.
For example:
- Completed 200 check-ins and check-outs daily, handling all customer requests professionally maintaining a 4.7-star rating on Trip Advisor for the entire year.
Showcasing Skills in Context
Rather than just listing skills, incorporate them into your accomplishment stories. Hiring managers want to see how you applied those skills in real-world situations.
Skills and Qualifications
For highly technical or specialized roles, include a separate Skills section to highlight relevant software, systems, or certifications relevant to the position being applied for.
Consider your transferable skills: these are skills that are marketable across a wide variety of work environments. They include both hard skills (e.g., software, language, technical skills either learned on the job or through education) and soft skills (e.g., communication, teamwork). Soft skills may be best demonstrated through your work experience or career summary rather than listed separately. If you’re switching careers or relocating to a new country, it’s also important to identify your transferable skills and explain how they apply to your new field or environment.
Education, Training & Certifications
Include any degrees, diplomas, certifications and relevant training in reverse chronological order.
Format as follows:
Degree/Certification Name – Institution, Year Completed
Keywords and ATS Optimization
Why Keywords Matter
Recruiters and Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) scan for specific keywords that match job descriptions. To improve your chances of getting noticed:
- Use keywords from the job posting.
- Integrate them naturally throughout your resume (job titles, accomplishment statements, skills section, etc.).
Formatting Best Practices
A well-formatted resume is easy to read for both ATS and human recruiters.
Follow these guidelines:
- Use consistent headings, dates and spacing
- Stick to active voice and spell out acronyms
- Choose bullet points over large blocks of text
- Avoid images, graphics, columns and tables
- Submit your resume in .docx (Word) or .pdf format, as requested
- Use traditional resume headings (e.g., “Work Experience” not “My Career Journey”)
- Show job titles before dates
- Choose simple fonts (Arial, Calibri, Helvetica or Times New Roman)
- Use basic round bullet points (•) or simple dashes (-)
- Avoid placing text in the header or footer (some ATS may not read it)
Understanding ATS Parsing
When you upload your resume, the ATS scans and organizes your information. You can check how well your resume is parsed by seeing if your job titles, section headers and dates appear correctly in the application fields. A chronological resume makes it easier for an ATS to extract information accurately.
Knock-Out Questions
Your resume isn’t usually rejected by the ATS itself — knock-out questions do that. These are yes/no questions that determine if you meet the minimum job requirements. Example:
“Do you have at least 5 years of project management experience?”
Answering “no” to a required question can eliminate you from consideration.
Final Thoughts
To create a strong resume, focus on:
- Relevance – Include only what aligns with the role.
- Keywords – Use them naturally from the job description.
- Formatting – Keep it simple and ATS-friendly.
- Accomplishments – Show impact, not just responsibilities.
A well-crafted resume doesn’t just list experience—it tells your professional story in a way that grabs attention and gets you to the next step: the interview.
