Your resume or curriculum vitae is without a doubt one of the most essential tools in any job search.  Remember that your resume must contain enough information to enable a potential employer to make a preliminary assessment of your capacities.  Here are a few tips that may help you in preparing a winning resume!

• neat, polished presentation on white paper;
• make sure that all of your information is accurate, include family name and first name, your address and telephone number(s);
• be precise, avoid lengthy descriptions; your resume should not exceed two pages;
• leave out: seldom used middle name(s), social insurance number, marital status, health information, age, reason for leaving your former employer, nationality, income and photograph;
• proofread, proofread and proofread, avoid spelling and grammatical mistakes;
• specify career objectives, describe briefly the type of work you want;
• structure your resume around your strengths;
• emphasize on the last 10 years of experience, in chronological order starting with the most recent employer - mention only the employer's name, do not add addresses and phone numbers;
• use clear, generic names to describe former positions (for example, do not use: junior accountant, level 3);
• prioritize your software abilities, regardless of what position you are looking for, by listing all software you can comfortably utilize;
• include your academic profile, training and accreditations, certificates and licenses;
• avoid abbreviations and acronyms;
• if space permits, include your hobbies and activities;
• avoid graphics and shading;
• list all language skills, written and spoken; and
• start sentences with action verbs, stick with the past tense.

Here are a few examples you can utilize:

acquired    /    created    /    negotiated    /    improved
contributed   /   established   /   launched   /   trained
suggested   /   started   /   organized   /   implemented