Resume Mistakes category includes a list of articles that discuss common mistakes made when writing a resume and how to avoid or fix those resume mistakes.
4 Reasons You Need a New Resume
I recently finished a resume revision for a customer who needed an immediate update for an unexpected job opportunity. He was not actively looking for work, but the position sounded ideal. Unfortunately, he hadn’t revised his resume in years and the interview was scheduled to take place within days. We were able to make the tight deadline for him; however, the experience made him realize the importance of keeping his resume up to date. By planning for the unexpected, you can save yourself a lot of trouble.
3 Important Resume Error Prevention Tips
Spell check is not the only tool you should be using to ensure that your resume is completely error free. Those pesky errors can turn your masterpiece into a monster piece with one misplaced letter. In addition to your very careful proofreading effort to ensure there are no spelling or grammatical errors, there are several important things you should keep in mind when creating your results focused resume:
4 ½ Résumé Mistakes You Can’t Neglect
If you ask 10 different people for feedback on your résumé, you will likely get 20 opinions. It is too long, too short, not bulleted enough, over-bulleted, not concise, too wordy; the list goes on. Even professional résumé writers disagree on which approach is best.
Are Recruiters Laughing at Your Resume Writing Skills?
Having a laughable resume is no laughing matter. The sad truth is that it is highly unlikely you will ever find out about your bad resume writing. Instead, your resume will most likely go directly into the ‘no’ pile after it has given a good chuckle to the recruiter who reads it. You, on the other hand, will not be so jolly when you scratch your head and wonder why no one ever gets back to you.
4 Resume Mistakes That Could Cost You the Call
When it comes to resumes, there is no shortage of unwitting and costly mistakes made by well meaning job applicants. Unfortunately, many people don’t really know how to construct a resume that will make a powerful impact and achieve the desired results while being free of errors.
Is Your Resume Really Bad or Just Not Very Good?
I recently came across a resume that I felt could use a major overhaul and contacted the prospective job seeker to offer her a resume critique. She politely wrote me back and said “I’m not interested at this time. If things change, I will let you know.” I wanted to scream!
Top Five Resume No No’s
Certainly, there is no such thing as the “perfect” resume. Every person is different with different backgrounds, skills; and knowledge; in other words – what works for me might not work for you or anyone else either. There is no “right” resume, but there are definitely wrong ones. Here are five things that should never be on your resume, at least if you want to get an interview.
Top Five Things Not to Include on Your Resume
Ah! The joys of looking for work! It can be (and often is) challenging, frustrating, and filled with setbacks until the right fit is found. Of course you want to make sure that you present yourself in a professional manner, sharing pertinent and relevant information with a potential employer. There are, however, some rules of the road, if you will – things that should never be uttered. resume etiquette is critical. The following is a short list of things that you should never, ever include on your professional resume:
Top Strangest Things Seen on a Resume
I have seen some and received some very interesting (and very strange) things on clients’ resumes. For some reason, people think that a resume is a forum to broadcast all manner of information. The obvious errors notwithstanding, below is a list of some of the strangest things I have seen, received, or been asked to include on a resume. It goes without saying that your document should capitalize on your professional strengths. Not sure? Get a second opinion. Here goes:
Resume Do’s and Don’ts
While there are no hard and fast rules regarding resume preparation, there are certain things that are definitely part of the do and don’t list. If you want a strong résumé that generates results, (who doesn’t?) then the following information will certainly be helpful as you embark on creating your own self-marketing masterpiece:
Top Five Reasons Why Your Resume Sucks!
You have sent out hundreds and hundreds of resumes with barely a response. You reason that it’s the economy and some other factors that you are simply not aware of. How can this be? No response whatsoever? You have accomplished a lot; you were well liked in your last role and did a number of things for the company that even resulted in a promotion. So what’s going on? I will tell you. It has nothing to do with you. It’s your resume that sucks! What’s wrong with your resume? It may be these top five things:
Five Resume Donts
You’re probably accustomed to reading about everything that you should remember to do when writing your resume. But it’s always good to keep in mind that there are some things you should also shy away from.
So before you write your next resume, take a look at these 5 resume don’ts. This way, you can avoid some very common by often harmful errors associated with resume writing.
Mistakes and Don’ts on a Resume
Resumes are a necessity for almost every job on the planet — accountant, teacher, CEO or municipal employee. But unless you carefully and objectively examine your resume before sending it out, recycling bins across America may be filling up with those ill-planned documents. Before mailing your next resume, check the ten resume “don’ts” below:
What NOT to put on your resume
After getting behind over the holidays, I’m back to adding new blog articles and stumbled on a nice little list of items that you shouldn’t put on your resume.
Some of these are obvious, but really it’s a great write up that includes some common items that people really have put on their resume that really have no use in that document for reasons such as privacy (social security numbers) or your religious beliefs which can create an unwanted prejudice (by all means religion is fine on a resume if that’s a part of your job function such as a religious leader or pastor applying for a job in a church).
This article includes 25 items that you shouldn’t include on your resume. Read below for more…
Your Resume Will Be Thrown in the Trash
Unless you know these insider tips, that is!
If you have been sending out your resume en masse and ending up with a massive headache instead – getting nowhere- you had better read on…
Your career just might depend on it.
It’s a sad fact, but true. In today’s competitive marketplace, a job candidate has exactly 10-15 seconds to make an impression. Most employers / recruiters are very busy people, reviewing literally hundreds to thousands of resumes (don’t forget cover letters!) per day. Unless your resume is well-targeted, expertly and flawlessly written and composed, and demonstrates within the first few seconds of review you have what the employer needs, it will most likely be indexed in the circular file.
A Sophisticated Marketing Tool.
Another sad but true fact is that most people don’t have a clue what an employer wants to see in a resume, even when they think they do. Many people equate a resume with a simple job application. An employer wants to know what you did while on the job, right?
Wrong! Well, partially. Most employers already know what you did on the job; after all, they are looking to hire you for that job, aren’t they?
What an employer really wants to know is how you excelled at that job. While the employer generally wants a brief description of your responsibilities, they mostly want to know what your achievements were. How do / did you stand out among others who have held the same job? Did you make or save the employer money? Did you initiate any new processes or procedures that improved or streamlined operations? Etc. etc.
Some people, realizing employers want both, still don’t know they have to separate the two to make the achievements stand out. Instead they lump them together. This is another common mistake job seekers make on their resumes.
A typical employer or recruiter, normally a very busy person, simply does not have the time or patience to wade through lots of text to pick out your achievements. You have to boldly present them!
Your Resume is Outdated
It’s a fact. If you have not looked for a job in the last few years, and even if you have, you probably don’t know how to do it. So please read on. It could mean the difference between being called in for an interview and being passed over for a more savvy-and better prepared-job candidate.
Resume Mistakes: Do Not Let This Happen to You
You want to get a great job, right? You know you need a resume to get your foot in the door, yes? Doesn’t it make sense to present your credentials in the most amazing way possible so that the employer can’t help but call you for an interview? That would seem to make sense, and yet, resumes end up on the desks of human resources personnel every day that are distinctive in their LACK OF ATTENTION TO DETAIL. Read: They stink.
There’s No Need to Pad Your Resume
It seems like a good idea, harmless in fact. Your friends assure you that everybody does it and that employers rarely check resume facts. Going on blind faith and convinced the truth hasn’t been helpful so far, you seriously consider fabricating information on your resume. You adapt the school of thought that a little white lie never hurt anyone and lying on a resume is just that, a little white lie.
Resume Falsification: Would You Lie on Your Resume
How many times have you heard someone say, “Just put it on your resume. There’s no way they’re going to find out”?
It is tempting to put little white lies on your resume. These might include overstating your knowledge of required software (“If they call me, I’ll teach myself over the weekend”), a certification (“They’ll never go through all that trouble to find out”) or extending dates at a former employer (“They can’t find out. The company went out of business”).
Mistakes to Avoid on Your Resume
You’ve decided you can write your own resume – after all you have a computer, know how to type, and think that it is a simple procedure.
This blog's author, Debra Wheatman of Careers Done Write, provides executive career services including resume and cover letter preparation, job search / interviewing strategies and professional branding including how to effectively use LinkedIn, Twitter and other social media in your career.
Visit CareersDoneWrite.com to learn more about how we can put your career in gear with interview catching resumes and professionally written career documents.