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Job Application Help


Silver-Haired Maiden
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So....

I'm on the young side as I'm sure many of you have guessed, and as such this will be the first official job application that I've ever filled out. As such, I have a question for those who perhaps have more experience with this than I do.

Since I'm applying to a job in the health care field (entry level), I want to include my experience taking care of my grandfather for three years after I graduated high school. The issue is, I wasn't paid for it so it wasn't an official job, and he's now passed away. So I'm not sure how to list it.

For information, I took care of his house, cooked his meals, managed and gave him his medicine, and took his blood pressure and blood sugar levels every day, as well as gave shots 3 times a day. If that helps.

Thank you in advance!

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@Silver-Haired Maiden Being a caregiver is relevant to your career path so it would behove you to include it in your resume. Always use a cover letter, personal resume, in addition to the official job applications. It doesn't hurt to include volunteer work for any type of work. It will allow you to stand out above your peers. It also doesn't hurt to have your cover letter/resume on career builder and things like Linkedin. Best of wishes to you and condolences on the loss of your grandfather. 

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There's infinite ways to format a resume, so it's ok to structure it however best organizes and showcases your skills/experience/etc. If you don't have a lot to put on your resume, you may want to go into detail-- write a bulleted list detailing the tasks you performed (no more than a single line per bullet point). If you have plenty to put on your resume, keep it brief, just a line or two that summarizes that you were independently providing assisted living services for your grandfather, which you'd explain in greater detail in an interview.

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I'm going through a business writing class and resumes are fresh in my mind rn. Take this with a grain of salt as my professor is picky when it comes to these things and he does not like to hear other people's ideas.

Here's the basic format if you need help with that kind of stuff and they want you to make your own.

 

YOUR NAME (make sure it's a good size)

your address 

your phone number

your email (preferably one you would use for work)

WORK EXPERIENCE

WhateverWhere you worked at (I would bold or underline what your position was and italicize where you worked)                                            DATE here (for reference, always put most current to least and PAID jobs before volunteer jobs.)

EDUCATION

Most current to least current                                                                                                                                                                                                 DATE graduated here.

If you have won any awards during your schooling (college only), then you can list them here. Awards are the most optional thing you can put on a resume.

SKILLS

put your skills here. Skills can include, but not limited to: being bilingual, Microsoft Office, CPR, etc.

 

General tips:

  • try to avoid having bullet points. Having more "space" is aesthetically pleasing to employers UNLESS otherwise stated. (yes I know the irony of me using bullet points now)
  • try to keep it on one page. 2 PAGES MAX. But aim for one. If you worked a lot of jobs, you can drop the ones that do not have any relevance to the job you're applying for. (i.e. volunteering to sell cookies for your church or something is an example of something you may have to drop)
  • For the background information concerning your grandfather: I will recommend to put it in your cover letter. Helping family is not considered "volunteer work" unfortunately. 
  • You do NOT need to follow the resume format I quickly made, but do make sure you cover Work Experience, Education, and Skills.
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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm no specialist, but since I've had to update my CV I started doing a bit of research on my part. I think I might have enough information to help. There's still the issue that some countries might work differently from others/expect other things from a CV, although I've googled in both my native language (portuguese) and english and found little difference between the advice I read.

On 08/11/2018 at 11:14 PM, Silver-Haired Maiden said:

I want to include my experience taking care of my grandfather for three years after I graduated high school. The issue is, I wasn't paid for it so it wasn't an official job, and he's now passed away. So I'm not sure how to list it.

For information, I took care of his house, cooked his meals, managed and gave him his medicine, and took his blood pressure and blood sugar levels every day, as well as gave shots 3 times a day. If that helps.

It wasn't an official job, but it counts as one of your experiences (it is too particular and informal, so I'm not sure if it'll count much, but any experience is welcome). Also, being paid isn't what defines an official job - you wouldn't have volunteer work otherwise.

I think you should include every professional experience you had/have, as long as it has to do with the work area you're trying to get a job at.

As for the CV example above, I agree with most things, except with keeping "Work Experience" above all. For someone with little to no work experience, it is better to highlight your education (college, not school, unless it was a technical/specialized school) and skills instead (to compensate from lack of experience), and since you're aiming for an entry-level job, significant work experience isn't really something employers should be striving for more than anything else, because by definition entry-level applicants have little to no experience.

So, I'd place "Work Experience" after everything else (for this case, because later on work experience becomes priority) and keep the rest as it is, with education coming in first, then your skills.

EDIT: Oh right, I missed one thing.

It's important to mention your work objectives, like mentioning you want to work in a specific area inside the healthcare field. For example, I'm an IT student and I put in my CV that I'd like to work with app/systems development (because "I want to work with IT" is extremely vague, and so is "I want a job on the healthcare field". If you really have no preferences, you could put something like "I want to work in the healthcare sector/department" of a company, instead).

When you're more professionally mature, it will be nice to put how you expect to help the company you're applying for, as in "provide ____ work by doing _____ (...)".

Edited by Rapier
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