Avoid common resume pitfalls this year with Resume Mansion

Your resume is the first opportunity you get to create a good impression on the hiring manager. If you apply for a job with a lukewarm resume, they will not have the best first impression about you. This is why we always advise you to apply for a job with a strong, well-written resume.

However, when writing a resume for the first time, it isn‘t easy to create a document that is free of all kinds of mistakes. So, today, we will look at the different resume pitfalls you might make on your job application and how you can avoid them:

Avoid overloading info

This is one of the biggest resume mistakes that job seekers make. Your resume does not need to carry too much information. It should be a concise summary of the qualifications, skills, and experiences that make you an ideal candidate for the position. Ensure that you only mention the most relevant and most recent information about your career on your resume.

Keep an eye out for typos

Although typos and grammatical errors are not serious mistakes to make on a resume, they can certainly compel a potential employer to form a negative first impression about you. Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and formatting mistakes tell hiring managers that you don’t pay attention to detail and that you don’t take the opportunity seriously. If you want to avoid getting into hot water early on during the job search, you should proofread your resume thoroughly before sending it out.

Don’t use a generic resume

Are you a job seeker who sends out the same resume for all your job applications? Then, you might be familiar with rejections. Although using a generic resume is not a crime, employers can easily discern a generic resume from a tailored one. If they sense that you haven’t put any effort into your job application, the initial impression they form is not a positive one. You must align your resume with the job description by tailoring the content to the job.

Avoid vague descriptions

Another mistake job seekers make when creating their resumes is using generic language and phrases to describe their experience. You must always be as specific as possible when discussing your professional achievements on your resume. Instead of starting your bullet points with vague phrases such as, “Responsible for…,” start them with specific action verbs that clearly describe your involvement in the task or project.

Pay attention to the visual appeal

One of the most unfortunate resume mistakes you can make is to forget all about the visual appeal of the document while you focus on the content. While the information that goes in your resume is very important, no hiring manager would want to actually read your resume if it does not have visual appeal. Therefore, it is essential for you to pick a resume template that has visual appeal and aligns with the industry standards of your target job.