Your resume is a company’s first look at what skills and accomplishments you might bring to the job. Don’t make it their last look! Be sure to avoid these major resume mistakes:
- You failed to tailor your resume to the specific job you want. So even though you have the skills that the company asked for in their advertisement or posting, you left the details out of your resume. Those specific skills must be in your resume and should be prominent, preferably at the top of your resume.
- Your contact information is incomplete and does not include a professional email address. A professional email address consists of your first and last name. Cute email addresses are not professional. If you have a common name, try putting your last name first or adding numbers after your name. Avoid the numbers 1 and 0. In some fonts, they look like letters and can confuse people reading your resume. Does your johndoel address refer to John Doe One or John Doel?
- You lied about or apologized for or over-explained your qualifications. If you lack confidence in your abilities, how can an employer have confidence that you are the right person to hire? A resume should describe you honestly but also show you at your best.
- You did not proofread the last draft. A last minute change might affect your entire resume. For example, if you add a word on page one, it might force a line awkwardly onto page two or even create a blank page. Or perhaps you corrected the spelling of a company name in one place but neglected to change it in another place. Always proofread the last draft as carefully as the first draft.
- You never sent the resume out. You had so much advice from friends and relations that you became paralyzed by the chance of making a mistake. If you never send out a resume, you will never be asked to interview. In truth, no one keeps track of how many resumes you send out or how many never receive a response. All you need is one “yes.” Send your resume out today and start asking for that “yes.”
What would you place in your top five resume sins? If you know someone who is making mistakes on their resume, ask them to give me a call.