Assessing Resumes of New Canadians

Resumes come in all shapes and sizes, and with all sorts of different content expectations depending on what positions your candidate has held, what industries they’ve worked in, and what countries they’ve gained their experience in. New Canadians often have the skills and experience that you need but their resume may not follow the same style or format as that of someone who has been working in Canada. For example, did you know including a photograph with your resume is a best practice in some countries, or that in some countries it’s customary to include personal information about your family or even failures along with successes on your resume?

“The success of any national or business model for competitiveness in the future will be placed less on capital and much more on talent … the world is moving from capitalism to talentism.”  Klauss Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum, 2012

How can you, as an employer, effectively conduct the resume screening process to ensure that qualified candidates are screened in? The key is to understand how to appropriately assess core areas such as language proficiency, academic credentials, professional credentials, and experience. Want practice reviewing new Canadian resumes and addressing your questions? Go to the Resume Review Centre below and follow the links. If you’d like to go directly to resources to support you to screen resumes see Resources & Tools for Employers.

Resume Review Centre

Review some of our sample resumes from new Canadians that will help you properly assess the abilities of these candidates.