Have you ever received an attachment that just doesn’t open? Or maybe it opens, but it looks horrible? Avoid this by sending files in PDF format whenever you can. They look the same on every computer.
This doesn’t just apply to resumés, though. You could also send invoices, receipts, cover letters, memos, or other business mail in PDF format.
Many students want to write essays. But some of them don’t know how to arrange their sentences correctly. This makes their work hard to understand and low-scoring on tests. I’ll show you how to make paragraphs correctly.
Some students start their sentences on every line.
This is hard to do.
It looks like a list, not like an essay or story.
I am sad when I read it.
You should feel sad when you read it too.
To correct this, we must group the sentences together like this:
Some students start their sentences on every line. This is hard to do. It looks like a list, not like an essay or story. I am sad when I read it. You should feel sad when you read it too.
Traditionally, we will indent the first line as well. You can do this using the “tab” key on your keyboard. It will look like this:
Some students start their sentences on every line. This is hard to do. It looks like a list, not like an essay or story. I am sad when I read it. You should feel sad when you read it too.
There. Now you’ve got it. Happy writing!
It is time for a useful, though perhaps not academically-focused, post today. I am talking about the washroom.
In Canada, we don’t like to talk about the “toilet,” unless we are talking about the purchase, maintenance, or installation of one. The word sounds like an appliance, similar in use to “chair,” “table,” or “stove.”
“Washroom,” ” bathroom,” and “restroom” all talk about the space where a toilet, sink and the like are located. Restroom sounds like a public place – a boss might ask a worker to clean the restroom, for example, but it would be strange to use this word in your house. Bathroom is a better word for your house, but washroom wouldn’t be wrong in that case.
Other countries might say “WC,” which stands for “water closet.” WC is the more common expression, but we rarely see this in Canada.
As a cultural note, teachers of children will always require students to ask permission to go to the washroom. Teachers of adults may or may not require this. If the class is very large, this is less likely than if the class is small.
Often, my students have asked me about where they can go to meet Canadians. They mention that trying to meet people at nightclubs, movies, or tourist attractions is rarely successful. There aren’t shops where you can select a friend, so where can people meet?
I’m hardly a social psychologist, but I have heard some advice that I can pass on.
– Look for a sport, group, social hobby or activity that you enjoy and can do in Vancouver. Try skiing, swordfighting, an art group, or a book club, for example.
– Take a class that doesn’t focus on English. How about cooking, painting, dance, or acting?
– Vancouver has people who believe many different things. Perhaps a group where you can discuss philosophy, religions, or spiritualism could be a good place to meet people who share or challenge your existing beliefs.
– Volunteering can also be social. Vancouver has many festivals that need planning, charities that need service, environmental action organizations that need help, or political campaigns that need assistance. (This is especially good. You can add volunteering to your resumé to show that you are familiar with Canadian businesses.) Find an organization that you would like to contribute to and apply with them.
Good luck and have fun!
I received a page of questions that a popular restaurant chain uses in its hiring procedures, and I thought I’d share a few of the most interesting ones here.
The page is quite complete; it gives example questions and answers for each of the areas that the company is interested in. Perhaps surprisingly, there is no area for education or work experience. All of the questions deal with work-related situations, personality, and communication skills.
Work skills:
-Tell me about a time when you could not help a customer.
– When multitasking, how do you decide on the order of your tasks?
– How did you get along with your last coworkers?
– Describe a difficult situation at work and what you did to resolve it.
– How did you solve personality problems at work?
Personality attributes:
– Why do you want to work at [name of restaurant]?
– Why do you want to work in the restaurant industry?
– How have you improved yourself in the last six months/year/two years?
– What makes a good leader a good leader?
– What did you do when you had to make a difficult decision at work?
Communication:
– How do you learn what a customer wants?
– What did you do when you saw a coworker or manager doing something wrong?
– If a customer becomes angry, how do you calm them down?
– How did you help a colleague improve their work?
– How do you deal with negative evaluations, assessments, or feedback at work?
I like these questions. They really give the candidate an interesting way to explain their connections to the job, their own ideas, and their abilities. Add them to your collections of practice questions to look at your skills from a new perspective.
Often, people may choose to ignore instructions that seem complex or counter-intuitive. A few days ago, I gave my students an exercise in which they have to find spelling and punctuation errors in a group of sentences. Some students “found” grammar errors – but there were no grammar errors in the exercise.
Top Tip – if you don’t understand an exercise, assignment, or task, ask your teacher or boss about what you need to do. It will save you time and energy, and allow you to concentrate on the most important part of it!
Recently, I’ve heard several students use “don’t” before “to.” This is never correct, and it is confusing! Let’s start 2016 off right.
I suspect that this is because of the grammar rules in their first language. Please be careful! Remember the recipe:
subject + do/does + negative + verb in base form + object.
Just a few notes on pronunciation and definitions today. “Platform” has two syllables: plat + form. Some say it with three: plat + a + form, but this is not correct.
“Equipment” has three syllables: e + quip + ment. Some say it with four: e + quip + a + ment, but this is also not correct. Be careful, because equipment is not a count noun.
“Seismic” has two syllables. It sounds like size + mick.
“Flesh out” is a separable phrasal verb. It means “to give detail or make something complete.”
“John, I like your proposal, but it is missing some information about the process. Can you flesh it out so I can understand the details better, please?”
“Legislation” is a formal word meaning “laws.” It’s a noncount noun.
“Pave the way” is an idiom that means “prepare for something else.” “Jane, your research really paved the way for my new discovery. It really helped me think about my work from a different point of view!”
I see a lot of students from around the world. They generally are happy to meet each other, learn about their differences and similarities, and work together in class. However, there often seems to be difficulty with the word “foreigner.”
It might look hard to pronounce, but here’s a secret: the ‘g’ makes no sound. Start by saying these sounds together: for in er. You got it!
Many students will say “other country people” instead of “foreigner.” Not only is the grammar incorrect, it is awkward. Remember that “foreigner” is a noun, and that “foreign” is the adjective.
Before: I met many other country people today.
After: I met many foreigners today.
Before: Are there other country people in your grammar class?
After: Are there foreign people in your grammar class?
“Foreigner” and “foreign” can be used in formal or legal situations.
Now that you can talk about them, it is time to go and meet some people who are from other countries. Good luck!
It is becoming more and more popular for people to put a “Profile” section on the their resumé in place of an “Objective” section. Here is a place to write a brief summary of yourself, your experience, and your personality.
Do: describe yourself, mentioning how you match what the company is looking for. Use the third person (“A talented writer, with experience meeting publishing deadlines, is…”)
Don’t: just rewrite your cover letter.
If you choose to use a profile section, you’ll have to rewrite it for every company you apply at. Every company will be different, so treat the profile section like a cover letter. Make sure they both match the company’s requirements!
Take a look at my CBEH or Resumé Sample Pack for more information.
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