Can someone critique my resume?

HorizonXP

Hey guys,

So I've been looking for a job for about a month and a half. The biggest problem I'm having is finding places to apply to. I don't know the names of companies in my area that would hire for positions I'm interested in. I'm really looking to get into biomedical engineering, but my previous intern experiences have been in embedded engineering. Since I really need a job, a position in either area is fine for now.

I always try to tailor my resume for each position. I'll attach two versions of my resumes, along with the cover letters I sent, for two different positions. I didn't get the interview for the position at Sunnybrook, one that I really wanted. Any ideas as to why I didn't get the interview, would be helpful.

There are two other positions I'm looking to apply to, so tips on what to do for each would be helpful as well. Thanks a ton guys!

I've applied to these two:
Posting at Sunnybrook Hospital
Posting at SOMA Networks

I want to apply to these two on Monday:
Posting at Baylis Medical
Posting at Altera

Here's the link to my SkyDrive, with PDFs of my resumes and cover letters. Thanks again guys!
SkyDrive with my Resumes

Everywhereasign

As I'm sure you know Sunnybrook is a much sought after work environment. People spend a lot of time gaining the experience the researchers are looking for, you probably had thousands of people competing with you.

The position you applied for was really looking for people who have "previous experience in medical imaging, in particular MRI and ultrasound" Consider that they most likely had a load of people apply that not only had worked with in medical imaging before, but also had previous experience working at the Brook. Many of these positions are hired within, they post them on the website to expand their options. Don't feel bad about not getting the Sunnybrook job.

I have very little experience reading/critiquing resumes, but what I saw looked good. You've chosen a very competitive field, so try not to lose hope. Go to your nearest hospital and pick up a copy of Hospital News, half the paper is ads looking for people to hire.

HorizonXP

So I have an interview at Sunnybrook this Wednesday. Woohoo!

Silvoculous

Everywhereasign wrote: »

Don't feel bad about not getting the Sunnybrook job.

So I have an interview at Sunnybrook this Wednesday. Woohoo!

Gahaha. Excellent. Now read the interview thread further down the page and you might have a fighting chance.

HorizonXP

Can someone help me out here? I'm trying to do some reading so I can answer any technical questions they might have. I've read up on the group, their research, looked at some of their publications. I'm going to brush up on how MRIs and ultrasounds work.

Anything else I should look at? Specifically, what's numerical modelling? What can I read for signal and image processing?

Thanks!

Pheezer

Okay, so just a general resume writing/job interview tip here:

Interviewers have a list of things they want. They will allude to these things both directly and indirectly in the job posting. Your job is to demonstrate that you have what they're looking for both in your cover letter and resume. This means that when you bullet out your responsibilities at prior jobs, don't just put shit that you think generally looks good, think about your prior jobs and how they relate to the one you want and what skills or experiences you gained in that job might apply to the one you want.

Do this with every single job, and make as lengthy of a list about each one as possible.

Now figure out which 3 points are the biggest, most impressive ones and put those on your resume. Do not overlap. If you had 2 retail manager jobs, saying that you supervised a staff of four people at once under both doesn't tell the interviewer anything new and let's face it, they probably gathered that from the job title.

This exercise is really valuable for interviews as well, as more and more employers will be asking you questions along the lines of "explain a time when you <blank>". These questions are supposed to be somewhat of a surprise and show what kind of person you really are. In practice the blank is almost always going to be one of the following in every interview you get:
Had a disagreement with a co-worker (or boss)
Had to deal with an upset customer (or co-worker)
Had to find a creative solution to a problem

You'll likely see other questions, but at least one of those three will pop up at least once. Knowing your personal work experience thoroughly will allow you to retrieve stories from your past quickly, giving the impression that you think quickly on your feet. Saying you've never ever disagreed with anyone will not win you points, and depending on the interview/interviewer, might lose you lots of points. So think about this shit.