3 Resume mistakes that can sabotage your job search!
A resume is an important career tool that should enhance, not harm, your job search efforts and professional brand. While the resume review process is subjective and there are no absolutes when it comes to how a potential employer will judge your qualifications, there are three critical mistakes you should avoid in order to keep your resume out of the “reject” pile.
Including all of your experience in a resume, regardless of its relevancy to your target job. A resume should be concise and targeted for a specific position, and the content should be relevant. Key words and phrases from the job description should be integrated into your application materials when appropriate. Never exaggerate or embellish your content, but when you can speak the same language, do so. Qualifications that align with the target job, as well as significant transferable skills and experience, should be included. Unless your summer job at the local ice cream shop during high school meets those requirements, leave it off in favor of more important information. Since a resume should be concise, you don’t want to sacrifice important content in favor of information that doesn’t effectively support your candidacy.
Burying your major selling points deep within your document. Why is this a mistake? Because most likely a hiring manager won’t make the effort to dig them out. The most important real estate on your resume is the top third. If a hiring manager doesn’t see evidence of qualifications that connect in a positive way to the job at hand, she won’t be motivated to read on. Experts estimate that a cursory resume review, which can determine your fate (placement into an accept or reject pile), takes between 6 and 10 seconds. That’s why it’s important to clearly feature your relevant skills and experience near the beginning of the resume in sections that may include a professional summary or skills overview, education, relevant experience, key projects, and relevant coursework (if you are a student with limited practical experience in the field). Set the stage with critical information that will present your candidacy in the best light possible as early as you can, and then support that content as appropriate throughout the rest of the document.
Not supporting your stated qualifications with facts, data (when possible) and specific examples. You may believe you are a “great communicator,” but does your former employer feel the same way? More importantly, how did your communication skills enhance your employer’s business? Did you just effectively communicate with clients, or did you develop a client communications management plan that led to a 50% increase in annual sales? Quantify your achievements when possible to show impact. Opinions are subjective, and justifiably should be questioned during the application process in order to determine if and how a candidate’s skills and experience will translate to success in the target position. Examples of past career successes can showcase your skills and achievements in a concrete and proven way, and they tell a story about you that will make you more memorable to potential employers.
To avoid these resume mistakes make sure you feature relevant skill and experience content throughout your resume, highlight your strongest qualifications towards the beginning of your resume, and support your statements with facts, data, and examples. Doing so will help your qualifications shine in a way that will present your candidacy in the best possible light so you will land that amazing job!
