Top 10 Resume Mistakes

Interview and Hiring Guide10 Things To Avoid In Your Resume

Everyone has or should have a resume. The resume is the primary marketing tool that individuals have.

There are many examples of good resumes that can be found over the Internet. The ones that are good avoid these top ten mistakes:

  1. Resume that is too long - Most resume readers will just look at the top 1/3rd of a resume in the first screening and many of them will "throw out" the multi-page documents. That is especially true of mid-level and senior level managers. Keep your total resume to 2 pages or less.
  2. Resume that does not represent you in the best first impression - Everything that the physical or electronic resume does is visual make sure that the resume looks good. There is your chance for a first impression and it needs to be good.
  3. Resume that is not structured well - On first glance if a resume looks cluttered or is just a long set of words which is "difficult" to get a quick image of a candidate can be excluded by the resume reader. Bullets, limited bold text, and a summary at the top are key directions to take.
  4. Resume that contains spelling errors - If you make this mistake you often will not even be phone screened. This error is direct path to the circular file.
  5. Resume that contains grammatical and tense errors - This is just as bad as spelling errors in the minds of many resume screeners. Do not user complex sentences and avoid starting with prepositions.
  6. Resume that does not agree with your "social profile" - Recruiters now look at social media and their network of other professionals and your resume needs to be in agreement with what the rest of the world see about.
  7. Resume that contains a photo - Do not include anything that shows your age, race, or appearance. You could be excluded from an interview for being "too old" or "too young" or other non-related factors.
  8. Resume that is not 100% accurate - Everything needs to be truthful and accurate. No matter what the factor is, there should be no grey areas or outright "lies" in the resume. Those will come back to bite you.
  9. Resume that is the same for each job and company - With word processors and email you should at least have a custom cover letter that address the "specific" job or company that you are sending the resume to.
  10. Not following up - If you do not hear back from a company and have sent a resume in, it is a must to follow up and see if the job is still open or if there is another position that you might be able to fill.

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