Your resume is your life’s working history, all on one page. Employers love and absolutely hate many specific things that applicants think they need to list. Here are a few.
- High School Diploma – Yes, this is important because believe it or not there are many candidates that did not graduate! However, if you went to a college or university it’s basically a “no-brainer” that you graduated from high school because you would not have been able to attend college if you did not have a diploma or GED. Leave out the fact that you were the football captain till the interview.
- Irrelevant Jobs – Sure, you like to brag that you held down 3 jobs and went to school just to pay for an apartment to get out of mom and dads. Most employers however are only interested in experience that relates to the job you’re applying for.
- References Upon Request – We know they are. If we need them, we’ll ask for them.
- Your Resume Is Hard To Read – How easy is it to read a long text message from your friend? Wouldn’t you rather them either call or point out the big picture? It’s the same with your resume. Pick a plain font, space it out and even use bullets to make sure hiring heads can easily find specific skills they need for the job.
- You have experience but can you do the job? – You went to a good school, graduated at the top of your class and got a great job as soon as you were done. That still doesn’t show what you did for your past employer. Make sure to include any goals you met, increased revenue or how you impacted the company’s organization overall to prove your skills.
- Grammar & Spelling Mistakes – THIS IS HUGE! The biggest red flags on resumes are misspelled words, wrong punctuation and poor spacing. This will get your resume tossed to the side faster than you think! How can you have so much attention to detail if you haven’t even looked over your resume that you’re sending to a hopeful future employer.
- Objective Statements – Some employers think this is not needed and really can age your resume. Others say it needs to be a simple sentence that tells an employer what you want from the specific position and your expectations from the company. Not about you, but why you are best for the job.
Resumes are very important! You should always have someone else proof read your information before sending it out, just to have another pair of eyes help check for any common errors. Technology is also changing and paper resumes are slowly becoming a past time! If you ever have the chance to record a video profile use this tool in order to keep up with the modern competition!
*Glassdoor – www.glassdoor.com/blog/7-reasons-your-resume-sucks 2016