Many of our resume advice articles focus on what to do when crafting a resume but this week’s article advises you on what not to do to ensure you make a good impression with employers. Here are six things to fix on your resume immediately before sending out your application:
- Lying on Your Resume – Intentionally falsifying information to make yourself look good on paper may give you a leg-up on your competitors in the short term, but once the employer or recruiter digs deeper, they will find out that you lied and you won’t land the job. Be honest and accurate on your resume and let your experience speak for itself.
- Spelling or Grammatical Errors – You’ve proofread your resume five or six times and you think it’s perfect. Even so, send it to a few friends or family members to look over as well. You never know what spelling or grammar mistakes they might catch that an employer is almost certain to see as well. They will view your lack of attention to detail as a major red flag when considering your candidacy for a job.
- Resume is Too Long or Too Short – I’ve mentioned this in previous posts, but make sure your resume is no more than two pages. There are certain exceptions like if you have a Federal Resume format or a CV, but in most cases if you have more than five years experience, you should make sure your resume fits on one or two pages. Having a resume that lacks enough content about your skills, contributions, and attributes is also a big no-no when applying for jobs. Make sure to use the space to sell yourself!
- Personal Pronouns on Your Resume – If you submit your resume for a free critique from Nexxt, one piece of feedback we always recommend is to remove personal pronouns such as I, me, my, etc. from your resume. Using personal pronouns is best reserved for your cover letter since it is a much more personalized document. Using them on your resume can give the impression that you lack professionalism.
- No Mention of Accomplishments – When you evaluate your own resume, make sure it gives the impression that you are an achiever. You can do this by making sure you emphasize measurable results of your work as well as the impact your role had on your company, department, or professional growth. Too often we see resumes where candidates only list out what they did on a day to day basis. Instead of showing what you did, show what you accomplished in easy to find bullet points.
- Poor Formatting – While the content of your resume is the most important aspect of the document, having a strong visual appeal is important as well. Make sure your headers, font type, and font size are uniform. Don’t cram as much text as you can on one page but instead make use of the white space on the paper. You can email me for sample resumes our professional writers have crafted for an idea of how to format your resume.
As you can see, there are several factors that can immediately disqualify you from contention for a particular job opening. With so much competition in the job market, it is best to avoid these simple mistakes to ensure you put your best foot forward and hopefully land the interview. For professional assistance with your resume, visit http://www.nexxt.com/resources/resume-writing.
Please tell me more.
Would love to see formats for resumes and what is the best way to update a resume for a new field of work, as a recent graduate with honors?!
One thing I’ve seen is that most articles like this (especially those that give “projects” as an example) seem to assume you work in an office, or want to. My field has always been centered around working in a warehouse (and I discovered long ago that I do not want to be in charge). There are also times when the only accomplishment and contribution that your role at the bottom of the ladder was doing the job to the best of your ability regardless of anything else. Unless my boss[es] told me just what my accomplishments were in many cases (since there were not any employee reviews in many cases), I have nothing to go by. My jobs were in warehousing where by the end of the day you ship out everything that was brought to the dock during the day, received in everything that came in that day, and pull whatever product you could by the end of the day. That was the only metric, especially if you’re not allowed to try to contribute more. So just how do you make that look great on a resume?
Why can’t we make things easier when it comes to resumes and make them standardized in terms of their content and layout across the board? End the 50,000 differing ideas of what’s right and wrong in terms of them.
I read some many ways to write a resume and I am as befuddled as I was before. Some would advice one thing -don’t include any “Objective’-it is no longer necessary instead zero in on “Accomplishment” right way . Some would say it is alright to put it on top.
Do you have a format that you can specially advise for the “direct type of service ” career or profession. This is not necessarily mine line of work but I would like to see your sample format for someone like a CNA ( certified Nurses Assistant “?
You cant quantify the personal, compassionate nature and diligence attention the job is particularly
identified with -such as ….” immediate and attentive response to your needs ” or “more than willing to go beyond acceptable duty of personal hygiene assistance and state such ………,.”
A job that can truly describe what you have accomplished yet be able to state it appropiately and with decorum of professional presentation would help a lot of direct care providers ,
Any comment ?
Hello, I found your information on resume writing to be very helpful. Is there any way you could list some examples of a cover letter?
Hi Patricia – Here is another blog posting I wrote about cover letters: http://www.theconfidentcareer.com/2013/12/4-cover-letter-tips-to-supplement-your-resume.html
Feel free to email me at jscott@beyond.com and I can reply with an example of a cover letter we have written for a previous client.
Best,
John