Job Discussion Forums

[BlueBlood]

I've searched the Web, but only came up with for-fee sites that give resume exemplars. I'm just looking for a general boiler-plate resume to get mine started.

I've also searched this site but cannot find an exemplar.

Also on this topic, How many pages do you think are good for a resume? I'm a firm believer in limiting my resume to one page. Perhaps others have a different view?

Thanks in advance for any help with this!

[Javelin of Radiance]

Mine's one page and I've never had trouble finding work. For your standard ESL jobs (vast majority of those available) one page is enough.

[BlueBlood]

Cheers, JR.

How much do you think being in my 40's will hurt me?

[Javelin of Radiance]

Being in your 40s is not a problem in this country. Almost everyone I've worked with here was over 40.

[BlueBlood]

Thanks, again. I asked bc of CFTU's posts and the first recruiter with whom I was in contact. Her first question, "What's your age?"

I was like, what?! That's your first question?

[Javelin of Radiance]

[choudoufu]

[BlueBlood]

Great input on ageism in China. Sounds like it's bad, but not as bad as feared.

Would very much appreciate it if someone could PM me or post a example resume or CV. Thanks in advance!

[muffintop]

Not to be too much of a jerk but....

If you are in your 40's I'm sure you can manage banging out a resume.

As for advice....keep it one page. Short and sweet. They don't need to know every employer you had since High School and likely do not care at all. Any job you held recently....find a creative way to turn it into a teaching position. For example, in my previous life I worked in I.T. as a sys admin. I focused only on the fact that I led classes for staff at the company. You should have at least 2 years worth of something in there that somebody could call teaching experience even if it's tutoring. If you took Spanish or whatever in H.S.....say so...just don't claim to be fluent if you aren't. Let them fill in your ability with their imagination. At the end of my resume I state that if requested, more details will be provided.

As you gain more teaching experience add it to your resume while pushing out any unrelated jobs you had before. The only reference my current resume holds to my previous life is my degree and year of graduation and a quick blurb like...1998-2009 Held various positions in the I.T. sector related to my field of study.

I do list every unrelated certification I have though. Likely nobody I ever sent a resume to in China knows what an MCSE, CCNA, CCSA, DIAF are but....chicks dig acronyms. (nerds forgive me but I even list the A+ certification). Even if you take a crappy TEFL course online....you have the cert. List it.

In the package you send to prospective employers you may want to consider a couple of photos. Most likely your passport photo does not do you justice and like it or not....appearance can matter.

[Javelin of Radiance]

[Denim-Maniac]

Im surprised people can manage a single page TBH. If I used the smallest font size possible maybe I could manage it, but I think 2 is a more likely length.

I include the following:

Personal information
Two sentences about my teaching philosophy or career goals.
Previous experience (for me that is 3 teaching positions)
TEFL qualifications
Other qualifications

Would be a real struggle to list that on one page.

[muffintop]

You're likely giving too much information about each job in your resume.

[Banner41]

They teach you in business courses in college that you should be able to encapsulate yourself in one page. You can't list everything. Just put what is important for that job you are going for. This becomes tough when people just shotgun resumes out with one standard form. You should personalize each one with the skill that pertain for that opening. Most HR type people don't want to read 2+ pages on each applicant. They want just the highlights.

Should include:
Contact information
Education
Past employment that pertains to the job you are seeking
and skills that pertain to such job

At the end, put references and details upon request. When they call you back, then you can expand how you ran a bake sale at 12 and sold girl scout cookies when you were 15!

This can easily be done in one page.

To the OP inquiry, Microsoft word has a standard form letter you can find to just fill in the info but it's pretty simple and doesn't have as much chance to stand out as if you do it on your own.

[BlueBlood]

Thanks for everyone's input. I finally found out how to find loads of excellent exemplars for free on the Internet: Just use Bing or Google Images search. I found many that looked very sharp and professional. Mind, I hadn't done anything like this in over 19 years...

As for pages, I strongly believe in holding it to a single page. I've worked and lived all over the US, parts of Asia, and could puts loads of details on my CV--details I suspect a potential employer could not care less about reading.

I also avoid sentences. Just the highlights. Easy and fast to read.

It's all coming back to me know

[Javelin of Radiance]