Roberto, 33, moved to Canada in early 2020 to complete his MBA. He finished the program in December, 2020, and has been looking for a job as a product manager in tech since then. Roberto’s previous job roles were based out of his home country in Central America, which he believes is hindering his profile as an applicant. “Besides being impacted by COVID-19 in my job hunting, I don’t have Canadian experience, which seems to be a key factor,” Roberto writes.
With an undergraduate degree in industrial engineering, Roberto hopes to ignite his creative side with a role as a product manager. “No day is the same,” he says. “You have to collaborate with professionals from different backgrounds to design solutions, iterate and implement.” He’d like to find a company that encourages a healthy work-life balance and where he’s encouraged to share ideas and grow. “I like when there is not a lot of weight in hierarchical structures, allowing employees to propose ideas and innovate,” he says. So we reached out to career coach Peter Caven and Jason Brommet, head of modern workplace and security at Microsoft and a former group product manager to review Roberto’s resume and offer him advice for his next steps.
The Resume
What the career coach says
To start, Mr. Caven suggests Roberto add an opening paragraph, or what he calls a personal value proposition. “Research indicates that resumes are only read for a few seconds unless there is a compelling reason to continue – a personal value proposition does that,” Mr. Caven says. “It should talk to proven capabilities, skills and goals.” The statement should also tell the reader what role the applicant is seeking.
The remainder of the resume would then “provide the evidence to support the proposition”, according to Mr. Caven. Since his MBA should be mentioned in his opening statement, Mr. Caven says the education section can be moved to the bottom of the resume. Roberto can also combine his education with his specialized training since they’re related.
As for his job experiences, Mr. Caven believes that the accomplishments Roberto has listed are too long and detailed, so he should consider condensing this section. He does commend Roberto’s structure of stating the job role first, followed by the company name. Roberto should then describe the company (what was the business, how big was the company in terms of revenue and employees) followed by a sentence that describes his reporting relationships, responsibilities and accountabilities. Lastly, Mr. Caven suggests removing Roberto’s additional information section since it doesn’t add value to his resume.
What the industry expert says
Mr. Brommet appreciates Roberto’s concise and well-structured resume, which includes the use of industry buzzwords. But he does have some recommendations for its improvement. Echoing Mr. Caven’s advice, Mr. Brommet also suggests Roberto lead with his professional experience, moving his education credentials to the bottom of his resume. Mr. Brommet also believes that Roberto’s professional experience is too lengthy. “There is an opportunity to drive succinctness in bullets, focusing in on the most critical highlights with impactful language,” he explains.
Mr. Brommet says that demand for product manager roles has remained consistent throughout the pandemic. And unlike Roberto’s concerns, Mr. Brommet believes that international experience should be considered an asset, and not a hindrance, to an applicant. “In an environment where change is inevitable and increasing in speed, a diversity of skills and experiences that an individual can contribute is more important than what countries you have or have not worked in,” Mr. Brommet says.
To improve his job prospects, Mr. Brommet says that Roberto should invest more time in networking. “What communities can you connect to in order to find like-minded individuals, but more importantly, those that can enable connections to the companies or individuals that make hiring decisions?” asks Mr. Brommet. He suggests utilizing social platforms to build these connections.
Meanwhile, Roberto should also think about “building a brand” through his LinkedIn profile. Instead of just liking posts, he should create original content by writing his own posts and commenting on other posts that interest him. “Look at how you can build your profile as a domain expert in product management, or at minimum, demonstrate a genuine interest in the industry.”
The new resume
Roberto was able to condense his resume into one page by reducing the bullet points of his job descriptions, combining his education and specialized training sections and removing certifications irrelevant to product management. He also added a value proposition statement to the top of his resume and moved his education section to the bottom. Finally, Roberto changed his additional information section into a section to encompass relevant projects, skills and interests.
Resume update
Customer support specialist Faith has landed a role after a year of unemployment. She kept in touch with career coach Wayne Greenway of Career Aviators, who helped support her into her next role. Faith has secured a full-time role as a taxpayer services agent with Canada Revenue Agency. While she’s currently in a contract position until October 2021, she hopes her contract will be extended.
Interested in having your resume reviewed?
E-mail us with your resume at globecareers@globeandmail.com with ‘Resume Review’ in the subject line and we’ll ask a career coach and an expert in your field to provide their feedback. Emails without the correct subject line may not be answered. Names and some details are changed to protect the privacy of the persons profiled.
We’re especially interested in hearing from those who have had their employment impacted by COVID-19. On the flipside, if you’re a hiring manager interested in reaching out to the person profiled, we encourage you to contact us as well. You can find all our resume reviews here.
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