We’ve looked at 1000’s of resumes from people in the Philippines. And can tell you that it’s so important if you want a role in an international business that you tailor your resume and present it ready for the international market.
Some of these will feel alien as it will be very different to what you’ve been taught or how you previously written a resume. But I promise it will help you.
Your CV has one job - it’s to get a recruiter or hiring manager to call you. That’s it. Beyond that the rest of a hiring process is up to you to verbally communicate your experience and personality.
So considering it’s one job - let’s talk about the main things you should focus on to ensure you the best chance of the recruiter calling you.
Personal Demographics - Don’t include your age, height, address, gender, marital status, religion. Good employers don’t care about these things but for some this will create bias in your application. Please don’t include it.
Go into detail - All too often I receive resumes with no role detail. And when I get a CV like this I will rarely interview the person unless the companies and role job title is of particular interest (though we know how deceiving a job title can be!) Take time to work out what you achieved in each role and what your main responsibilities were and include those for every job (esp. in the last 5-10 years of employment.
References - Don’t include your references and their contact details - this is old school now and not necessary as references will be collected at the point of offer in Australia.
Gaps in your employment - Explain them - were you caring for a family member? Were you studying? Working in the family business? Help the recruiter out by discussing any significant breaks in your resume. Many people have gaps in their employment history, it’s fine, being transparent with it is important.
Photo? You can decide if you want a photo or not, but I’d avoid the standard graduation day picture as these don’t show your personality. And if you are going to include a picture - please make sure you’re smiling in it! (That goes for your LinkedIn profile pic too)
Should I use a template? Canva has a heap of resume templates on offer. Some of them are pretty but they don’t allow much room for detail, ensure you edit them to make it work for your content rather than making your content fit the template.
Colour and font? - Keep it simple.
Portfolio - Include links to your portfolio or sample work in your CV. Make it easy for the recruiter to see your work. Organise it will and have a variety of samples to showcase your work.
LinkedIn - Always include your LinkedIn profile URL. As a recruiter, I personally like to review a LinkedIn profile alongside a CV and having your LinkedIn URL at the top of your resume is a good way to make it easy for me!
Remember, a resume is key to getting you the interview. Make it easy for a hiring manager from an international company to assess and decide to pick up the phone and call you.
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