I have reviewed thousands of resumes over the years. I am always amazed by how each resume takes on a life of it’s own. How can two hotel general managers with relatively the same background and years of experience have totally different resumes? What is a hiring manager or human resource professional looking for when they view these two resumes? Why does one person get the interview while the other never even gets a chance?
When a company posts a job in a high unemployment environment, they receive numerous resumes of some qualified but mostly unqualified candidates. If your resume does not clearly define your background, you will never get a call. Also, if you don’t make sure keywords are prevalent throughout your resume, some companies ATS’s (Applicant Tracking Systems) will automatically remove you from the hiring process.
While there are numerous websites, books, experts and friends that tell you what to put in your resume, here are five mistakes that you can’t afford to make.
YOUR RESUME HAS NO FOCUS. As your career grows, you learn many skills. However, the job that you are applying to may only need three or four of the skills you bring to the table. Make sure your resume focuses on the skills you have that willbenefit the hiring company. Many resumes miss the opportunity to tell a potential employer how you can add VALUE to their company. Your resume is not a biography but a strategic career plan that will help the hiring company prosper.
NO CLEAR OBJECTIVE. If you are a electrical engineer, your objective simply should be “Electric Engineer” backed up by three points on your engineering accomplishments. These accomplishments should be the same ones the new companies desire. Too many resumes are generic and boring. You must show your value.
LIES and EMBELSHIMENTS. Today’s technology and the ability to perform background checks almost instantaneously will find any blunder you may have in your resume. If you were out of work for 6 months, that is okay! Don’t adjust start dates and end dates of past employment to make your resume perfect. It is a recipe for disaster. If you have a lot of jobs in a short period of time, list them but also put your reasons for leaving.
GET RID OF FULL SENTENCES. With so many resumes being sent to each opening, the hiring manager doesn’t have time to read a book. Hiring managers scan resumes and scan quickly. Bullet points with real accomplishments will get the most attention. Get rid of the bullet points that do not add value to the job you are applying to.
SPELLING AND GRAMATICAL ERRORS/BAD EMAIL ADDRESS. It is amazing that so many resumes have spelling and grammar errors. Don’t rely on spell check. Have your neighbor proof read your resume after it is completed. Finally, make sure you have a professional email address. We all have a personality and many put that into an email address, but the safe route in a job search is “your.name@yahoo.com”.
When writing your resume, pretend you are a hiring authority with 300 resumes to go through. Then put your resume to this test and see if it stands out enough to get selected for an interview.