Boosting your resume

[harbie]

So I was updating my resume and it got me thinking about the "education/courses" I've taken (not going to mention them since they are so basic and limited). So my question is what kind of courses would you recommend to take to make your resume look better. I don't have a "career" unless you count several retail jobs so there isn't anything that I could take to further my career.

Another angle would be what type of training would you recommend to get into more of a "career" that isn't retail based. I guess I'm just tired of retail jobs and would like to get into something different and more importantly pays more.

Please feel free to tell me what you do for work and any other info you choose to share about the perks,etc of it

ETA, I'm not into going to university but not against other shorter courses.

Thanks

[tjthemanto]

There are LOT of free courses & certificate courses , from TOP US/Canada Universities , which you can do for FREE. You do them online & at your lesiure & you can do them quite fast . Put them on your resume & actually do them seriously, so you will also have the skill & confidence & qualification, not just something on your resume

COURSERA : Take free online classes from 115+ top universities and educational organizations

https://www.coursera.org/


MIT Open Course Ware

http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm

So I was updating my resume and it got me thinking about the "education/courses" I've taken (not going to mention them since they are so basic and limited). So my question is what kind of courses would you recommend to take to make your resume look better. I don't have a "career" unless you count several retail jobs so there isn't anything that I could take to further my career.

Another angle would be what type of training would you recommend to get into more of a "career" that isn't retail based. I guess I'm just tired of retail jobs and would like to get into something different and more importantly pays more.

Please feel free to tell me what you do for work and any other info you choose to share about the perks,etc of it

ETA, I'm not into going to university but not against other shorter courses.

Thanks

[tjthemanto]

These courses are in NO way inferiror to what you would otherwise take in universities & colleges for a lot $$$.

I would advise you to get into some office administartion type of job , if you haven't really have had a career as such. It will be a bit clerical in nature. But atleast it will be a Mon - Fri , 9-5 type of job with decent benefits & salaries . You can move up within the office later on into purchasing , sales, accounting etc.

Just some Word , Excel, Pleasant phone manners etc can easily get you this kind of job. If you can learn a bit of other software like some Accounting software like Simply Accounting, Quick Books etc , you can make even more.

You will be surprised there are some administrative jobs in Government , Libraries , Universities, Hospitals, City jobs, Courts & even private sectors/companies which are paying really well.

This NOT a job as a Secretary or Receptionist or anything like that..but an administrative office job . You just need more of a multi tasking skill to do these jobs than say an actual degree like Engineering , Accountion , MBA or something like that.

[harbie]

Thanks for the great info tjthemanto

[xbbx]

These courses are in NO way inferiror to what you would otherwise take in universities & colleges for a lot $$$.

I would advise you to get into some office administartion type of job , if you haven't really have had a career as such. It will be a bit clerical in nature. But atleast it will be a Mon - Fri , 9-5 type of job with decent benefits & salaries . You can move up within the office later on into purchasing , sales, accounting etc.

Just some Word , Excel, Pleasant phone manners etc can easily get you this kind of job. If you can learn a bit of other software like some Accounting software like Simply Accounting, Quick Books etc , you can make even more.

You will be surprised there are some administrative jobs in Government , Libraries , Universities, Hospitals, City jobs, Courts & even private sectors/companies which are paying really well.

This NOT a job as a Secretary or Receptionist or anything like that..but an administrative office job . You just need more of a multi tasking skill to do these jobs than say an actual degree like Engineering , Accountion , MBA or something like that.

Definitely beneficial to learn Microsoft Office.

As for education part, I usually include things that are relevant. I left out my high school education.
I had a link that had like 50 TOP resume tips. The author took the time to look through all the tips available and took the best ones.

I found the link!

http://www.rawresume.com/blog/resume...complete-list/

[Ciel]

I'd suggest seeing what your area's employment centres offer in terms of WHMIS or sector-specific training, in case you might want it for a career change. There could be fees associated or perhaps a sponsor is paying for the training for jobseekers. Also, some centres might have programs specific to jobseekers wishing to change careers or are in a specific age bracket.

CRA has a lot of video topics posted online but say you find a small business topic presentation at night or during the day (on payroll deductions/remittances/forms or recordkeeping or research & development grants or GST) that you register and attend at a community location or in Toronto (if you are in ON)-I'd put those under Education and a month/year because it shows that you are expanding your knowledge.

The thing is with retail work is the hours required are all over a day so it might be hard to find training/events to attend around a schedule is not consistent on which days you'd work days/afternoons/evening.

Don't forget to look for lectures/speakers at colleges/universities near you or through any alumni associations you may belong to. Never know when you make new acquaintances or get interested in something new (that might inspire you to read/research online what it takes to go into a new field).

[emdoug]

I know I'm a little late to this thread, but I work in human resources so I might have some good suggestions.

If you're currently in retail, do you have any management experience? If you do that can lead you out of retail and into other management opportunities.

If you are interested in more of an office job with steady hours, a route you can take would be customs. I work for a large customs brokerage and we can hire release agents with only a high school diploma, and within the company you receive more specific training courses but as a career path it may be an option for you. Many of our managers and even some executives started off as release agents and with time moved up into their current positions.

A good way to make your application more appealing, although time consuming is tailoring it to the job description. You can have a basic resume with all of education/experience/abilities but your cover letter is where you can say what you have to offer and what the employer will benefit by hiring you.

If you want me to take a look at your resume you can send it to me [email protected], I used to do resume writing as a part time job