Where are all the Jobs?: 5 Resume Mistakes You’re Making and How to Avoid Them

Friday, April 29, 2011

5 Resume Mistakes You’re Making and How to Avoid Them | Career Rocketeer

5 Resume Mistakes You’re Making and How to Avoid Them

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 03:30 AM PDT

Your resume is often your ticket to an interview with the hiring manager. Start off on the right foot by submitting a killer resume (and cover letter).
Avoiding the following mistakes can help you land a coveted interview opportunity and stand out among other candidates:
Mistake #1: Failing to highlight accomplishments.
A hiring manager or recruiter wants to know how you benefited your former employer(s). Did you improve a process in the office? Come up with a profitable project that helped keep the company afloat?
Identify why you were an asset at your last position—what did you excel at? What hard numbers can you include on your resume to show an employer how valuable you were? Don't just list your responsibilities; show what you've accomplished in your past positions to help an employer understand why you'll be an asset at their company.
Mistake #2: Including irrelevant or incorrect information.
Your resume should clearly show how you're a fit for the open position. By including other positions or skills that don't relate to the opening, an employer may think you don't have a good understanding of the position or are using one resume to apply to multiple jobs.
Double-check the information offered in your resume to ensure it's correct. (It's sad, but true—some candidates submit a resume with an outdated email address or incorrect phone number. Employers won't go out of their way to find the right one.)
Mistake #3: Including an objective statement.
An objective statement is all about you when your application materials should be about the company. Instead, use a professional profile statement to show the employer why you're the best fit for the job. Share your qualifications, experience, and skills in terms of the company's needs and values in paragraph or bullet form. Check out an example in a previous Career Rocketeer article I wrote on profile statements.
Mistake #4: Poor formatting.
Your resume must be easy to read. It's as simple as that. If a hiring manager has any difficulty, they'll probably just move on to the next one. Check out online resume templates and consult with other individuals to determine if there's anything you're doing to make your resume too complicated or difficult to read. Use tables to leave space between separate elements. Use a font that's easy to read—san serifs tend to be best, such as Arial or Calibri—for maximum readability. Also, many applicant tracking systems (ATS) will produce errors if your formatting is too complicated—and your resume will never reach a human.
Mistake #5: Focusing on length rather than content.
If you're an entry-level professional, your resume should adhere to one page. However, that doesn't mean it has to be exactly one page; it's merely a suggested length at this point in your career. While your resume probably should not exceed three pages (ever), it's more important to get all of your relevant experience, skills, and qualifications across in the document. If you change your font size to something so small no one can read it anyway, you're doing yourself more of a disservice than going a few lines longer than one or two pages.
Resume writers and career experts: What other mistakes do you see job seekers making and how can they be avoided?

Guest Expert:
Heather R. Huhman is a career expert, experienced hiring manager, and founder & president of Come Recommended, a content marketing consultancy for organizations with products that target job seekers and/or employers. She is also the author of #ENTRYLEVELtweet: Taking Your Career from Classroom to Cubicle (2010) and writes career and recruiting advice for numerous outlets.