For graduate recruiters at ACT Government, your resume is our first point of contact with you. It shows us what you've done so far with respect to your education, volunteering and work experience.
It highlights who you are on a page and and whilst it's absolutely not the only thing we look at, it is certainly the first snapshot that we get of you.
Without knowing anything about you, the resume presents you for the first time to someone who will be part of the assessment team. It's like the first time when you walk into a room or the first time that you present yourself to the interviewer when you're going for a job interview. You want that presentation to be capturing yourself right light.
Are there any red flags not to include on your CV?
As recruiters, it's very easy to tell when someone has put effort into their CV and tailored it for the job or alternatively just used the same generic CV over many years. It's therefore really important to tailor your CV to the job that you're going for. This is because it demonstrates you've thought deeply about your unique selling points and what you can bring to the role. For example, you might include your alignment with the employers values and behaviors as well as carefully selecting work and other experiences you have that relate well to the role you're applying for.
Your resume should be short, sharp and punchy. Long resumes with unnecessary information is a big red flag. You should make sure the information you provide is condensed and that you're just highlighting the most important parts for this particular role. You can include a short career objective at the start and two sentences which tell us who you are or what you're looking for in a role or your career.
Your cover letter is your opportunity to expand on this. In our application process, you will have to submit a 500 word response to a question that allows to highlight more about who you are and explain your skills, experience, desires, what you're after in your career and how it relates to the ACT Public Service.
Do you have a question for ACT Government or any other graduate employer? Ask it here!