Director of Talent and Employee Experience at PCL Construction

Brett Reasoner

Job-hunting as a candidate can be a scary place, especially in the tech industry, with the major players laying off people by the thousands. Conversely, in other industries like construction, it is difficult to get qualified candidates to apply at all. This is a tough market to hire in, regardless of which side of the fence you are on. It is easy to get discouraged when you find a job on LinkedIn or Indeed and it says it has 954 applicants and the role was posted less than 12 hours ago. It is easy to not apply to that role and look for the next. As a candidate, what can you do to stand out in markets where there are hundreds or even thousands of applicants for a role that you want? The first thing to do is to have a great resume.

As the director of talent acquisition and employee experience at PCL, I see thousands of applications a year come across my desk and there is always a handful that stand out. I’ve kept a few of them for future staff training. These candidates with exemplary resumes have distinguished themselves in a variety of ways, but to me, what is noteworthy is how the candidates have presented themselves three-dimensionally on paper. What does that mean? Making yourself three-dimensional doesn’t mean just showing off your accomplishments, job history, or other rank-and-file information. I want to see what makes you uniquely you as a candidate. Show me that you’re resourceful and driven, that you have accountability and are an effective communicator. Those are things I want to see when looking at a resume. Someone who can effectively get me to see what kind of teammate or leader they can be from a piece of paper; is the type of dynamic teammate I want to bring to the team.

“People often define themselves by their work, but you are unique and one of a kind, so make sure that you come through in your resume and not just your work”

Demonstrating your skills and talent three-dimensionally starts with data and stories. Please make sure they are concise and precise while accurately painting the picture. For example, if you took over a project that was failing to meet deadlines and turned it around to not only meet but exceed the final deadline by one week and provided value through added services that saved the company 11 percent on the original projected cost, resulting in a savings of 127k along the way, explain all of that to me. Show me the data and highlight the steps you took to accomplish that achievement. This example would tell me how you are accountable, resourceful, and diligent in your work. Two to three short examples like this can make a huge difference between you and someone else who is competing for the same job.

Lastly, I like to see resumes that are concise. I don’t need to see the responsibilities from 14 years ago listed on your resume; rather, show me the last 2-3 roles worth of responsibilities and just highlight the titles and companies you worked for previously. If a resume is more than 2-3 pages long, it detracts from the details you really want to highlight. Focus on providing more data and proof of the more recent responsibilities that are closely aligned with the role you are applying for.

People often define themselves by their work, but you are unique and one of a kind, so make sure that you come through in your resume and not just your work.