Writing the CV/Resume
Writing an Australian resume (or CV) may differ from the way you write a resume in your home country. It is comparable to the English resume. Bear in mind that Australians are not familiar with the European school system. In general resumes in Australia are simple and straight forward, only focusing on your practical work experience and education.
Important things to remember are:
- Use WTC’s address as your Australian contact address unless you have your own apartment/share house that you plan to stay in for a while.
- Make it very clear what your skills are, what you are good at and in which fields you have gained work experience.
- It is always worth mentioning that you are very motivated to work for the specific company and that you are eager to learn about Australia and Australian culture.
- Make it clear when you are available to start work. for example a sentence saying “available for an immediate start” at the end of your summary/profile makes it clear you can work right away.
Do’s and Don’ts:
- Keep it to 1 – 2 pages, not too long!
- Do spell check your resume before sending it to an employer
- Do list your most recent work experience first and then work backwards
- Do write in English as the employer may not be familiar with words in different languages
- Do explain what you have done in each job and highlight experience that is relevant to the job you are applying for
- Do not include information about the occupations of your family- this is not commonplace in Australia
- Do not use small or difficult to read text
- Create a professional looking email account
Canva CV Templates
Canva is a great tool for creating a CV that is both eye catching and clear. Canva has multiple templates available for resume writing, you can find some of our favourites below:
You can find our example of a Canva CV below:
Once you have finished drafting your CV you can submit it here for your WTC team to edit and correct it so it’s ready to go! Feel free to also drop into your local WTC office to use our free printing service.
Writing the Cover letter
A cover letter typically accompanies each resume you send out. Your cover letter may make the difference between obtaining a job interview and having your resume ignored!
- Focus on the job at hand. It’s fine to tell a prospective employer how great you are. But people are only interested in how your greatness relates specifically to the position they are looking to fill. In other words, do you have the particular skills and talents they need?
- Less is more. There is no need to write more than one single page for a covering letter. Employers are busy, and brevity is
- Do some research about the company
- The best type of letter is one which is Don’t handwrite unless specifically instructed to do so.
Get the little things right. Make sure that the names are spelled correctly – in fact, make sure ALL words are spelt right. Check the grammar and punctuation.
You can find an our example cover letter below: