You should absolutely include any relevant in-progress education or specialized training. The only time when you might not want to do it is when you have literally just started, or when the training itself is only a few days or weeks long and you have just started. You should wait in these instances.

Otherwise, truly “in-progress” education and training is a positive thing.

It is important to convey how much you have completed and/or how close you are to completing the requirements. Here are some …

How to edit your resume for certain industries

You didn’t ask me to clear up all of the confusion, thank goodness, so I will address your specific question on industry or profession-specific styles. My short answer is yes there are industry styles, and yes, they can be a good idea.

However, my first caveat is that your goal should be a professional resume that does a great job of explaining what you’ve done and what you offer.

The second caveat is that certain life stages require special attention.…

It is very unfortunate when we make the decision to join a company and it doesn’t work out. The reasons can be numerous; a bad boss, job misrepresented, poor colleague fit, and of course, some candidates sell themselves into situations that they shouldn’t be in. The reality is that it happens.

Do you represent jobs on your resume that were short and didn’t work out? And if so, how do you do so?

My advice, and most experts agree, is that you need to include all formal work experiences on your resum…

Will you get hired just because you sent a thank-you letter? No, likely not. Could it help your candidacy? Absolutely.

The strength of your candidacy is made up of many different data points. Your ability to do the job. Your professional background. Your education and credentials. Whether you were an applicant, headhunted, or referred to the search. How well you did in the interview. How much they see you fitting in the organization. Your references. Some, of course, are more important than othe…

Size editing your resume

The first and most important rule in resume length is that your resume should be as long as it needs to be to best showcase and market your skills for your target positions, but no longer.

Of course, different countries and industries have different standards. For the Canadian and US market, 1, 2, or 3 pages is standard, although there are some industry exceptions.

I am sure that some readers may still be confused. Okay, 1-3 pages, I get that. But, which?

Go back to my openi…

Broadening your hiring process

Where do out-of-the-box candidates fit in your hiring policies and strategy? In this age of talent vs. skills and tight labor markets, the out-of-box candidate will increasingly be a fact of life. It takes some experience and courage to seriously look at out-of-the-box candidates. And, it takes a willingness to be flexible.

Here are five categories of out-of-the-box candidates

Heavy on skills, light on domain / industry expertise

If you can’t find someone from within y…