I have over a decade of consistent experience in reading and reviewing resumes. The job market is a fluid one and is always changing. Today when I look at resumes that look like they were done in 1999, I immediately want to get out my red pen. =)
According to Webster, the definition of a Resume' is: A brief account of one's professional or work experience and qualifications, often submitted with an employment application.
According to Webster, the definition of a Resume' is: A brief account of one's professional or work experience and qualifications, often submitted with an employment application.
A Resume' is one of the most important documents you own. It should be very high on your priority list to keep it updated and always on point.
I list here the top 5 most common errors that I see on Resume's consistently.
1) Objectives: Many moons ago when learning how to create a resume, the first task was coming up with an objective. "This what I am looking for with a career in....."
The problem is that a Resume' is left up to interpretation. You have absolutely no way of knowing what the person is thinking when they review your resume.
Let's say you apply to an ad for an Engineer. Your resume' says "Looking for a company to grow with and be the best Electrical Engineer they've ever seen" Right there, you may have screened yourself out prior to the hiring manager getting to the meat of your experience. The ad never specified what type of Engineer they were looking for.
I have seen it happen many times.
Job Title: Accounting Clerk
Applicant Resume: Career in Accounting
Hiring Manager: These people are all looking for careers in Accounting and my department is looking for Financial Analysts.
Instead use this space to brag about yourself. Come up with a summary that gives a snapshot of who you are, what you provide and what you bring to the table.
2) Dates of education: The first human reaction when seeing a graduation date is assuming how old a person is. Obviously, this is an incredibly inaccurate way of figuring that out and also illegal. Don't leave anything to interpretation.
3) Too broad: Under your job responsibilities you should be as descriptive as you can be without running on and on. For example: Answered phones.
My immediate thought would be, what kind of phones? How many lines? Average amount of calls per hour? This could help determine what the hiring manager is looking for and you will stand out amongst the rest.
4) Spelling: Spell Check. Spell Check. Spell Check.
5) Alignment: Please align your resume so it is esthetically pleasing. You want to catch attention. Keep different fonts to a minimum however I recommend staying far away from Times Roman.
Be different. Stand out. Make sure it is legible. You must be sisynced while also being descriptive.
Of course for some humor I found this Infograhic of funny resume mistakes. Enjoy!!
Please tell your fellow recruiters that while this sauce may go well with geese, it is equally good on ganders. I only wish I had more time to detail the ways, on http://www.recruitingrants.com . . . .
ReplyDeleteHi Dave.. Thanks so much for the comment and for reading. I absolutely agree with you. Matter of fact, i am not sure if you read the previous blog I posted but I specifically call out those recruiters that are lazy, un-caring, selfish and spam-happy. Unfortunately, it is those recruiters that have given the good ones a bad name. I on purpose build relationships with everyone I can. Of course not all of the relationships are the same and of course I deal more in depth with some vs others, however my intent is always the same. If I don't work with you now, I want to work with you in the future. I would NOT work with someone who didn't keep his/her word time and time again or is lazy when especially when it has to do with my career. Hope that made sense. =)
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