WHAT SHOULD MY RESUME IDEALLY LOOK LIKE, FOR A JOB IN CANADA?A question that I am asked very frequently by New Immigrants, when I meet them for an Interview. I do advise them on this issue; however the following components need to be addressed. This MUST be done before one starts applying for employment in Canada.Generally a resume MUST HAVE the following: CONTACT DETAILS: This includes the name of the applicant, address, phone numbers and email address. Please drop the PHOTOGRAPH, as it is definitely not required. Furthermore, there is no need at all to mention your Age, Marital Status and your Residency, Country of Origin and religion. There are laws governing these issues in Canada and hence they may not be the basis, on which any individual may be discriminated against in terms of employment.Clarity of an Objective at the beginning of a resume can certainly help in inducing the Reader to continue reading. Eg -Looking for an opportunity in the area of Financial Analysis and Planning, within an Organization that is value driven and customer oriented ORLooking for a Supervisory position in Sales, within the Consumer Packaged Goods Industry. Here is an executive summary of the individuals experience and skills. Eg – Controllership experience of over 10 years in ManufacturingDesignated Accounting and Finance professional Excellent leadership and interpersonal skills Managed large groups of staff ranging from 5 – 15 Have been exposed to Public Company Reporting for over 5 years Proficient in the usage of computers and various softwares WORK EXPERIENCE: A Chronological submission of employers worked with in your work life, beginning with the Most Current one. Important components to note here are – the name of the employer, tenure of employment with month/year, title of position and brief of the company worked in. Then you may describe the role you performed. Eg. -General Manager Jan 200 – Aug 2006 A Manufacturing Organization with Revenues – $100 million and 2000 employees Role Description ACHIEVEMENTS: Do not misinterpret this as a role addition or activity performed. This is a specific mention of an Accomplishment, where you have done more than required and gone that extra mile. Eg -Managed to bring down the month end closing days from 5 to 3 OR Successfully implemented a Costing system that resulted in an annual savings of $2 million across the companyListing of your degrees, certifications and so on. Please list the most current one first with details like – Degree obtained, year of certification, Institution that certified you and location. Eg -CA – ICAO – 2004 B.Com – University of Waterloo – 2000 SOFTWARE SKILLS: This is a comprehensive listing of the various softwares that you are proficient in like SAP, Lawson, Great Plains, Excel, Access, and ACCPAC.PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS/VOLUNTEER ACTIVITIES: This is not a must have for resumes, however cannot harm you in anyway. You may want to mention your involvement in a ROTARY CLUB for example, in addition to your association with CICA, ICAO, etc.Overall, a resume that has all or most of the above mentioned components stands a better chance of getting its owner an Interview than a resume that doesn’t.
Automotive Advertising Agencies Drop Conventional Media in Favor of Social Networking by Consumers
Old school wisdom like ‘the customer is always right’ have often taken a back seat to automotive advertising agencies and auto dealers who presumed to talk “at” customers rather than listen to them. Hard sell tactics built on that presumption may have sold cars in the past but with the rise of the Internet and social networking media — not so much!Today’s educated car shoppers are bypassing the auto dealer’s real and virtual showrooms in favor of visiting other online information resources. Auto dealers are being replaced by consumers in the formative stage of their buying cycle who turn to trusted friends in social networking communities. These online groups of like minded consumers share their car buying experiences before, during and after the sale and customers find that they are able to provide far more transparent and relevant information than any self serving auto dealer; real or imagined.Similarly, the reach and frequency of the best planned automotive advertising campaign can be trumped with the click of a mouse by a car shopper who can get the information they need to buy a car without having to listen to a sales pitch from a self serving auto dealer. The solution for automotive advertising agencies challenged by a shrinking economy and a consolidating auto industry is obvious — if you can’t beat them, join them.Social networking on the World Wide Web is an extension of an equally established wisdom that people like to do business with people that they like. The social part of this growing online marketing phenomenon is built on trust in friends which is an element of human nature that has survived on the Internet Super Highway. Networking references the value of word of mouth advertising that delivers a single message to a sphere of influence that used to be limited to close friends and family. The Internet now distributes that same message virally on channels like You Tube, My Space, LinkedIn, Face Book, Bebo, Twitter and too many others to list that are growing exponentially.Automotive advertising agencies have been challenged to monetize social networking with mixed results primarily because they attempted to apply best practices learned from their past experiences on conventional media like radio, T.V. and print. Initially, it was assumed that the only adjustment needed was to post the same retail messages that worked in conventional media on the social networks. That was accomplished through the use of banner ads linked back to the auto dealer’s website or with an invitation for the customer to call or visit their real world dealership to get the information they needed beyond the low ball price or payment that was often offered but rarely trusted. These banner ads were seen as an easily avoided nuisance by community members who opted not to play. However, evidence does suggest that they did/do provide a residual impression that adds to the auto dealer’s top of the mind awareness with the car shopper; although sometimes the impression was tainted by the dealer’s intrusion into the community of friends.When the R.O.I. of the banner ads did not meet expectations, automotive advertising agencies attempted to register their auto dealer clients as members of the community to promote themselves from within. Auto dealers were quickly discovered as the wolves in sheep’s clothing that they were and the unwritten rules of etiquette of these social networking sites drove them from the community with their tails between their legs.Automotive advertising agencies have since learned that the elements of human nature that drive word of mouth advertising are fragile and they require transparency to survive in social networking communities. As is often the case, the solution has been provided by the developing technologies that have matured along with the Internet as a marketing media.One such solution is provided by ronsmap.com, a game changing customer centric marketing platform with proprietary applications including vBack and SellersVantage that generate Intelli-Leads with market and consumer intelligence not previously available to auto dealers. vBack is a social media engine that is embedded on the vehicle postings on ronsmap as well as the auto dealer’s website and linked marketing channels with an Ask-a-Friend/Tell-a-Friend feature functionality that develops viral messages trafficked through the social networking communities that the customer belongs to and trusts. In addition, related comments from friends solicited by the customer are attached to the Intelli-Lead as part of their SellersVantage application that also accumulates data on comparable vehicles from the auto dealer’s inventory in accordance with the customer’s stated preferences as well as related real time product and pricing information from local competitive dealer inventories posted on the Internet. This added information is sourced from within the social networking community by the customer — not the auto dealer — preserving the anonymity of the dealer while providing the auto dealer virtually unlimited access to members.This method of C2C marketing from the inside out vs. the now dated B2C marketing from the outside in is unique to ronsmap and it promises to allow automotive advertising agencies access to this growing online media. Conventional media is, and will always be, an integral component of any comprehensive marketing plan, however access to leveraged viral messaging offered by consumer driven social networking channels is the best way for budget challenged auto dealers to sell more for less. After all, what are friends for!