10 ways you mess up your resume
Olivia Attwood
Certified Professional Resume Writer ● Career Coach ● Executive Resume Writer ● MBA, BEng, CPRW, CPCC
Are you writing a resume for the first time? Then, you may end up making a few resume mistakes that cost you some amazing job opportunities. It is normal to make mistakes while creating a resume. However, you need to make your resume as great as possible so that you stand out among the many talented professionals that apply for the same role. Let’s have a look at some of the most common resume mistakes and how you can avoid them:
Uncorrected typing mistakes.
If your resume has a bunch of typos, it will send the message that you are unprofessional and don’t pay attention to detail. Let your resume sit for a day (or at least a few hours) and proofread it for any mistakes.
Objective statement at the beginning.
Objective statements are considered to be outdated on resumes today. Instead, start your resume with a personalized summary statement that highlights your biggest selling points.
Outdated contact information.
You will never hear back from an employer if you have mentioned the wrong phone number on your resume. Double-check your contact details to ensure that interested employers can reach you without hassle.
Vague statements in the career history.
Your career history should be full of specific statements that quantify your results and highlight your professional achievements. Vague statements add no real value to your resume and take up a lot of valuable space.
Personal information galore.
Your resume only needs to carry a few crucial pieces of information about your career. There is no requirement for you to mention personal information on your resume. Remove your age, date of birth, religion, civil status, and other personal details from your resume if you are applying for a job in the US.
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Lists of job duties.
Have you described past roles using lists of job duties you have performed? That will not win you any job offers in the modern hiring market. Fill your resume with specific professional achievements from your career to highlight your skills and expertise.
Confusing employment dates.
Don’t confuse the hiring managers by omitting or inconsistently listing employment dates on your resume. List employment dates clearly and in a consistent manner. Use the same formatting to highlight the dates throughout your resume.
Inconsistencies with your online presence.
If your LinkedIn profile says that you were unemployed for a year during two jobs and your resume says something different, employers may doubt the integrity of your resume. Always align your resume and cover letter with your online presence.
Clear history of job hopping.
Job hopping is considered to be one of the biggest resume red flags. Try to describe short term jobs on your resume in a way that add value to the document. You can omit months from your date format to mask job hopping. However, it is not an ideal solution because it can come out during an interview.
Yard-long resume bullet points.
The whole purpose of using bullet points on your resume is to summarize important information. If your bullet points are over three lines long, hiring managers won’t read them whole. Try to write effective bullet points that are concise.
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