Delta Management | Candidate Resources

Resume-Writing 101

© Gavin Pitchford, Delta Management CEO

We get asked a lot what an ideal resume should look like. The answer varies a bit from Canada (longer; typically 2, but 3 pages max) to the USA (often 1 page – never over 2) but essentially the message is the same: people will not read past the first page if it isn’t both compelling and a match to their needs, so make sure you highlight your personal “compelling value proposition” in the summary, and get some meaty achievements tied to your desired position on the first page. Ideally the most recent two positions will make the first page.

What not to do:

don’t waste space with an address on the first page: coordinates only
no “Objective” – HR uses this to screen you out – it almost never gets you an interview
No personal data (i.e. marital status, number of children, race, creed, colour or political persuasion)
No “fuzzy” paragraphs: keep it in bullets, use statistics wherever possible, and keep it concise
DO NOT mix typefaces. If you start with Helvetica stick with it. Especially do not mix serif and sans-serif fonts.
Unless you are a consultant and this is actually your consulting resume do not ever refer to yourself in the third person. (Gavin thinks that sounds stupid). You should preferably leave out pronouns altogether (I.e. “promoted to Director role”, not “I was promoted to the Director’s role”) or use the first person “I” if you must, but whichever choice, keep it consistent.
Do not use lighter colours. Lots of people reading your resume may be older, and struggle with light gray typefaces. Stick to navy blue or black.

What you should do:

Wherever possible, Include quantifiable results (i.e. reduced GHGs by 312 tonnes (12.5%) over 3 years)
Specific major accomplishments (i.e. Drove GRESB strategy that resulted in first place ranking in our category)
consider seeking professional help as to how to maximize the impact of your resume on your target employers

The following is an example of SUSTAINABILITY resume. See further down for a SALES resume

Name, Degree(s)

Day time contact number (i.e. mobile phone) – Personal email address

Professional Profile:

a short (3-4 lines) overview of who you are professionally and summarizing your accomplishments. Can be bullets or paragraph format. Include key words for your market segment. For example

“Highly successful professional with 12 years’ experience driving sustainability in the Real Property industry. Helped ABC Company move their portfolio to #1 in category in Canada for GRESB, and took 95% of properties to LEED 4.0 Gold+. Created and implemented a smart building automation systems strategy. Drove reductions in energy, water and waste. Effective at employee and tenant engagement.

Objective: LEAVE THIS OUT! It is used to screen you out – it is rare that your objective matches perfectly with the company’s wish list. It will help you 1 time in 100 – hurt you 30% of the time, and simply be wasted space the rest of the time. Focus on what you have accomplished.

Professional Experience

Start with your present role, and describe the company’s key differentiators. Make sure the dates are accurate and reflect your entire time at the company. If you have had multiple roles at the same company, go to a different line for the first role, with the role dates indented.

ABC Company, Toronto Aug 2015 – present

ABC owns and manages a combined portfolio of a billion square feet of commercial real estate, spread between office, retail and industrial properties, across Canada

If you have more than one role… note title bolded, but dates are not. Important that readers understand that you were promoted, and not think you worked for 3 different companies because you have 3 sets of dates all flush right…

Director, Sustainability and Innovation July 2017 to Present:

Start with responsibilities. Can be broken into multiple bullets, or summarized as best suits the role. As time goes further back, smaller descriptions of responsibilities and accomplishments. Assuming similar times spent, most recent role might be 4 accomplishments, second and third most recent, 3 accomplishments, and then down to 2. ** If there is something about the specific role to which you are applying that relates to experience from several positions ago, by all means add an extra bullet to describe it, even if it is a lesser accomplishment.

Leading a team of 3, responsible for all aspects of sustainability, GRESB / ESG / LEED performance, smart building strategy, tenant and employee engagement, climate risk and related adaptation and mitigation strategies

Then describe achievements / accomplishments / results

Helped ABC climb from #3 in 2016 to become industry leader in our category for GRESB in 2019.
Increased LEED Gold plus certified buildings from 74% of space in 2015 to 95% in 2019
Through building automation systems strategy, helped 3 properties (combined 4.5 million sq. ft.) achieve average energy savings of 12.5%, GHG savings of 9% with an average ROI of 22 months.
Identified and developed mitigation strategies for 6 buildings with high potential flood risk, preventing a likely disaster in one instance where newly constructed berm prevented infiltration from “100 year flood” that would have incapacitated the building
One more bullet for a total of four accomplishments

Then describe the earlier role – again – note indented dates

Manager, Sustainability Aug 2015- June 2017:

Managing an Energy Analyst, accountable for for all aspects of sustainability, GRESB / ESG / LEED performance, tenant and employee engagement, energy reduction strategy
Began LEED and GRESB strategies described above, reporting GRESB for the first time in 2016 and taking LEED Gold or Platinum certified space from 74% to 83%. LEED strategy helped secure at-risk major tenant for 10 year extension.
Comprehensive water use reduction strategy including tenant and employee engagement and shift in landscaping choices led to water use reduction at 4 problem buildings by 23% over 18 months.
One more bullet for a total of 3

Second Last Job Corp, Toronto Manager, Energy and Sustainability Apr 2010 – Aug 2015

Company description, shorter than above if possible.

Responsible for these 3 things
Accomplished this 1st thing
Accomplished this 2nd thing
Achieved this 3rd milestone

Third last Job Corp, Mississauga Sustainability Analyst March 2007-Apr 2010

Consistently follow the same format throughout – same bullets and tabs. Shorter descriptions the further back you go
Include months for at least the past 10 years of roles. Beyond 10 years do so if you can. If not, years only is acceptable
Go back at least 10 years and ideally to your graduation. Considering eliminating roles if leaving them in will push you to more than one page for every decade of work experience, plus 1. i.e. 22 years of experience gets 1 page per decade (2 pages) plus 1 = 3 pages total. If you have 20 plus years of experience you may prefer to leave off dates for education, and leave positions further back than 20 years ago of your resume completely.

Formal Education:

If you have no post secondary education, leave off the Formal Education heading altogether
Do not invent a degree – if you attended university but didn’t graduate, just put in the years you attended

Most recent post secondary institution, where degree or multi-year diploma was awarded, Degree, dates studied (optional if 20 plus years ago)

Second most recent post secondary institution, where degree or multi-year diploma was awarded, Degree, dates studied (optional if 20 plus years ago)

Professional Education

Additional courses if relevant, institution, year,

If relevant and the degree was awarded outside of Canada or the USA, describe whether or not it has been assessed as comparable to a Canadian degree.
Do not include your high school unless it was somehow unique
If you have lots of professional education, include it – i.e. two headings: “Formal Education” (first) and then “Professional Education”
Like jobs, list in reverse chronological order

Personal

Nothing that will give away religion, creed, political leanings, disabilities or colour – in short, nothing upon which companies can be accused of discrimination
Nothing about children or marital status
Best hobbies are those which benefit the company – or match those of the person hiring for the role! Noting that you are an avid philatelist and attend conferences worldwide will not help you land the job – unless by a 1 in a million chance, so is your interviewer!)
Mention activities which help with your role (i.e. participating in CaGBC seminars / conferences / on the CaGBC local board ). Other items which will not hurt you are great and may be a point of connection between you and the interviewer. Generally speaking, hunting and snowmobiling is bad – running, racquet sports and golf is usually good! It’s not that you shouldn’t enjoy hunting – just leave potentially controversial hobbies off your resume in case they hurt you.
Do not mention your golf handicap (especially if it’s low)! A little golf is good. Too much golf says you are rarely working!
Max 3 lines of text – again – too many other interests give the impression that you don’t work hard

Excellent References upon Request

Other things to consider…

Get all your key stuff onto page 1. Most interviewers don’t go past page 1 unless they are interested. Critical that you have the interesting stuff – i.e. the last 5 years and most relevant experience and accomplishments – on the front page.
Unless you are a recent grad (i.e. 3 years or less) or applying for a role where a professional designation is important (i.e. P.Eng), push education to page 2. Most of the time, adding letters after your name provides the necessary credentials while leaving the first page free for what you have actually DONE.
Keep the whole resume to two pages if you can, three pages max.
No one cares about your first job out of school if it was 15 years ago unless it is directly on point. Cover it in one line or less. Other roles older than 5 years get less and less space on your resume as you go back.
NEVER LIE. Don’t miss positions out unless at the very beginning of your career, or of less than 2 weeks duration. We regularly catch this kind of error. Short stints can be explained. Lies can’t.
Remember this is a sales document (but not for vapourware!) so be sure to list the things of note you have accomplished.

Formatting rules…

Lots of white space. Wall-to-wall text won’t get read or absorbed.
Break up at least part with bullets (i.e. for accomplishments) to improve readability.
Format a half line between jobs / companies.
If you have multiple roles with the same company or, through a buyout, with multiple companies, format the company name (if a buyout, give the current name and then the old names), and dates for the total time at the top, and then nest the individual roles and their dates below that. Don’t mention the company name repeatedly, as someone skimming resumes it scans quickly may think you had multiple jobs with different companies – which will hurt you. For example…

A Sales Resume (see notes from above)

Name

Day time contact number (i.e. mobile phone) – Personal email address

Professional Profile:

3-4 line overview of who you are professionally and summarizing your accomplishments. For example

A highly successful senior sales professional with 12 years’ experience selling large solutions to FP 500 corporations. President’s Club attendee 10 times, with numerous contacts at ‘C’ level” and a 12 year unbroken string of over quota achievement.

Present Company Inc.: Senior Account Executive Aug 2015 – present

The company sells unique widgetware to the emerging financial derivative wealth management marketplace, with world-wide sales of 6 zillion in the most recent year

Your 4-6 point job description that includes the main highlights of your role. Be specific. Use numbers to demonstrate your ability to be specific. Use strong action verbs to indicate your high energy level and ability to persuade. Either bullets or a story format are acceptable, e.g.

Responsibilities: As the only senior account executive in Canada, led a team of 2 other account executives and 3 systems engineers in pursuing major financial institutions as customers for Widgetware. Typical initial sale of 1.5 to 2.5 million with sign off at CIO level and above, after a six to eight month sales cycle, generally followed by ongoing support and add on sales, typically more transactional in nature from $50,000 to $250,000. Responsible for identifying target accounts and setting high level strategy through to transaction completion. Annual quotas between $4.2 and 6.3 million USD.

-OR-

Responsibilities:

As the only senior account executive in Canada responsible for strategy and execution on all major accounts
led a team of 2 other account executives and 3 systems engineers in pursuing major financial institutions as customers for Widgetware.
Targeting initial sales of $1.5 to 2.5 million with sign off at CIO level and above, with a typical 6-8 month sales cycle
Follow on ongoing support and add on sales, ranging $50,000 to $250,000.
Achieving annual quotas of between $4.2 and 6.3 million USD.

Regardless, Achievements should be bullets

Achievements:

Grew annual sales from 0 to 7.8 million in 5 years
Exceeded aggressive quota plans all years
President’s Club (125% of plan or higher) 3 of 4 years
Developed strong long term person relationships across all levels of several banks and major stock brokerage firms and two insurance companies
Mentored less senior account executives

Second Last Job Corp.: Major Account Executive Apr 2010 – Aug 2015

Company description, shorter than above.

If company changed names, make reference here, as in “formerly ABC Corp / XYZ inc)

Responsibilities: All sales of “Lastware” and “Otherlastware” products to two major schedule “A” banks and 12 schedule “B” banks; quotas of 4.0 to 5.5 million USD,