You have been sending your resume to all the major companies in the country and none of them had reverted to you. Have you wondered why? Maybe your resume is full of mistakes of which you have no knowledge.
Here is the list of top twelve resume mistakes and how you can avoid them
- Typos and grammatical errors
- Glorifying achievement
- Hiding important facts
- Important skills buried
- Visually too busy
- Lacking focus and unorganized
- No action verbs
- Unnecessary emphasis on past
- Personal blogs or websites
- Skip the extras
- Unprofessional email IDs
1. Typos and grammatical errors
Your resume is your entry ticket to the prospective company and if you have mistakes like miss spelt words, chances are your resume is being dumped into the bin. Wrong spellings are a big turn off and it tells the employer that you are not detailed oriented and you are too casual in your approach.
Similarly bad grammar on your resume like using words with different meanings interchangeably will show in bad light. One of the classic examples of this one is seeking a salary commiserate with the training and experience. Never put the salary on your resume and secondly salary should be commensurate which means proportionate to and not commiserate which means to express sympathy for.
2. Glorifying achievements
It’s good to highlight your achievements. But beware of blatant lying while doing so as it may get you a job but if and when caught it can land in you a major soup. It is always advisable to write the current position (designation) on your resume. So even if your prospective employer gets you checked he doesn’t feel cheated by the information on your resume.
3. Hiding important facts
Don’t try to hide anything. Specially if you worked for some firm which you left within a short period of time put that either on your resume or on the cover letter but don’t hide it. Putting it on the paper will show your courage and your honesty and hiding it will put you in the bad light when it comes out. Remember through your resume you are trying to form a relation with your prospective employer.
4. Important skills buried
If you have some important skills set that you acquired from all your previous jobs or through training make sure to highlight them. They will be the ticket for resume selection over others. Whatever skills you have ensure it to put them in the summary or the profile section so that they catch reader’s eye.
5. Visually too busy
Keep your resume clutter free. Use bullets to highlight your achievements as bullets give a neat look to your resume and make it easier for the reader to scan through your resume. Also avoid using too many fonts and different colors on one resume. It will not give a professional look to your resume. Keep a margin on all the four sides to give it a neat look.
6. Lacking focus and unorganized
Nobody has time and energy to go through your resume. So clearly state your objective within the first few lines. Your resume should be a match of your skills, experience and the job applied for. If you are applying for multiple jobs make sure that you modify your resume accordingly. Don’t try to fit one resume for every job as it will not get you any results.
Also an unorganized resume doesn’t cut a good picture with anyone. Make it organized by putting the important information in the beginning. Your education is important if you are a fresher and don’t have much to write under experience.
7. No action verbs
Your resume should be accomplishment driven and not duty driven. Use action verbs to emphasize how your presence in the organization brought the change to your organization. Did you close any important deal? Were you able to convince the exiting client to stay with your organization thus retaining the business? These are some of the questions your resume should answer.
8. Unnecessary emphasis on past
Don’t emphasize your employment status of more than 15 years (senior managers) and don’t delve into the history of your previous positions. Be up to date with your status. If you are delving too much into your past chances are that your prospective employers think that you will be expensive. Similarly avoid putting a date to your college degree if you acquired it 10 years ago.
9. Personal blogs and websites
Unless they add a value to your resume avoid your personal blogs and websites on your resume. By value addition, experts mean that if you are a marketing person and you are blogging about the current trends of marketing in your field then it is fine. But if the blogs are about your personal life then avoid them.
10. Skip the extras
Don’t provide unnecessary information on your resume. Nobody is interested in your family history or how did you acquire a certain degree. Keep your resume clutter free by skipping such information.
11. Unprofessional email IDs
Don’t use funky sounding email IDs you created as a child. Keep those for personal use. They don’t have a place on your resume. Use your name either full name or abbreviations as your user name. They sound more professional and make the employers feel that you are serious about your career.
