Writing the perfect resume is tiring and stressful; It is after all your way of presenting your accomplishments and accolades to the prospective company and professional people who are going to evaluate whether you are eligible for the job or not. The whole package has to be perfect, presentable, professional and sharp for making an impression on the hiring panels and the professionals who are looking to employ you.
First things first, you will have to breakdown the different problems that you have faced with your resume writing and formatting and when you have those list, you can go about writing a list of how to fix those problems.
What are the Deadliest Resume Mistakes to Avoid:
1. Summary:
Most of the resumes loses their reader’s attention or grab it with the very first lines and paragraph; Remember the summary is the most important paragraph in your resume, this will lay the basis of their attention and impression of you. A general summary is an absolute no-no, it will immediately turn their attention somewhere else; instead, let them know what your expertise lies in and how you, as a unique individual can help with the success of their company. Most summaries are getting old and overused, so make sure that you focus on your individuality rather than using all the big words that you know and in the end, you will be left with just the fluff.
2. Update skills with no experience:
This is one of the problems that many freshers and even experienced job seekers have; joining a course and learning a very important skill but having no experience to back up the advertised ability; so while updating your resume, it is better to write how your skills is going to provide results for the job. Be advantageous for the Company and mention how these skills benefits the projects that you will work on – make sure that you highlight on what you are going to do and what is to be expected from you.
3. Relevance:
There has been a lot of situations where updating a resume seems pretty complicated especially when the job that you are applying for, skills that you have taught yourself or acquired fits the job requirements but the educational background does not seem to match the whole package. Therefore it is important to note the relevant information and add your educational background since this is the basis of your knowledge and shows your education. However in your resume, make sure that the focus goes to your experience and skills especially newly acquired skills that are in harmony with the latest trends and technologies instead of the obsolete skill you acquired previously.
4. Gaps:
This is another problem that is usually faced by job seekers, there might be gaps between previous employments that may be because of various personal reasons or just because you felt the need to have some time off to yourself and/or for the family. This might also happen because the various job interviews that you were not able to be successful in; whatever the reason may be, make sure to let the interviewers know the reason why there are gaps, you do not need to update the information in your resume, leave that for your cover letter, CV or personal interview. However, if that gap gives you the time, do some freelancing jobs and add that to your resume.
5. Job Changes:
This might look bad in a job resume especially when there have been three jobs in four years and also, you are branded with a name that you do not want to reach the hiring panel’s ears. There are so many reasons as to why you had to change your jobs and it depends on the way you address each change that will either make or break your chances in the new company that you are applying in. However, if there is apparent growth with each change and you are being promoted in each jobs, then capitalize on this and use it to your advantage – Let them know that you are ready for the next challenge that their company will provide you.
6. Long Resume:
There may have been a lot of promotions that you were awarded with in your different jobs that obviously needs mentioning, or different skills and accolades that you have acquired through the years that you have been working. A lot of these spaces might make the resume have a longer length than the usual resume length and you do not know what to keep and which ones to remove. Remember that there is no need to add the experience you have 20 years ago that is probably obsolete for the present job. 10 – 15 years is a good enough range to add your job experience and each explanation should be specific and to the point.
7. Mistakes:
It is not surprising that resumes, especially the first and second drafts contains mistakes like grammatical mistakes or usage of words that does not seem to have an impact on the readers. Everyone makes those mistakes, whether it is small mistakes like spellings or too many adjectives or verbs that sound like you were actually doing nothing. These are not problems that will take too much of your time to fix, they take a maximum of half an hour. If there were too many and the minimum time is just five minutes, then there are various websites that will offer help with such mistakes; typos or grammatical mistakes that are an absolute turn-off for most companies.
8. Qualifications:
Sometimes you might be over qualified or under qualified for a job you applied for; situations like these makes the hiring panels nervous since over qualification might mean that you will look for greener pastures in no time and if you are under qualified then well, there is the effectiveness of how you work on the responsibilities that is given to you. So, if you are underqualified but has the skills needed, capitalize on your skills; if you are over qualified, focus on how you will be able to provide the company with effective work and results. The biggest fear with over qualification is the loyalty, it is imperative therefore, to let your employers know how serious you are about this job that you are applying for.
9. Information:
Somehow, we always end up with too much or too little information and there is already a point that has been discussed about too much information. However if there has only been two jobs in 3 to 4 years, this will be hard to expand in your resume; therefore make sure to focus on the accomplishments that you have made while working in the two previous jobs, what you are most proud of and how these experiences can help you work better and provide results in this new job. Anyway, a resume is only one or two page long, hence do not worry if you have got all the relevant information in your resume and have it in only one page and you can also add the fact that shows your reliability and loyalty to your job.
10. Job Titles:
Some of the job titles that we get in our previous jobs might not give your readers the best picture of what your work is actually about, usage of the right keywords and detailing what you do will help paint a comprehensible picture of what your job is all about. It is important to make it clear since some job titles might sound like the work that you do is easy or very hard; some organizations do not have the same definition and work list as the standard job title implies, therefore having a quick description of the job will give your readers an idea of the exact job that you have been doing in your previous jobs.
11. Getting Fired:
This is definitely a hard information to write on your resume but the advisable step is to be honest and let this information known to your next employer. Your experience certificate will let your next employers know the exact reason why you left the previous jobs and is of no advantage to hide it from them; whatever the reason might be, make sure that you let them know the why and how this will not be duplicated in the next job. This is another opportunity to focus on your skills and how these skills will help with the company’s projects and success – if not on your resume, the personal interview or call letter are the best places to explain.
12. Wrong Focus:
Your resume should not list out the various promotions that you have acquired over the years, a list of skills that you have updated yourself with or just the accolades and accomplishments that you have made in each position. This will not be as impactful as letting your prospective employers know exactly what results have you been able to produce with the skills and the promotions that you have acquired and how those results will be carried over to your new job. Making that impression is all about the advantages that you can provide for the next job and the results that you bring to the table with your years of experience.
13. References:
It is not rocket science that you will have references for each skill or experience accumulated over the course of your work history but referring every skill and experience to a reference document will eventually exasperate your reader; it takes their time and will not give them a good impression of you. Make sure to add references only at the end of all the information, these references should only be used as a choice for your readers, if they want to know more, to click on your reference link and read about the details – your resume should already contain all relevant information written in a clear and concise structure.
14. Keywords:
With the emerging technological trends and upgrades that all established companies uses right now, it is important to use keywords that will help them in searching for your resume easier and faster. Companies will store every applicants’ resume in a database where they can go in search for when the time for evaluating the resumes arrive. If you find it difficult to write your content using keywords, make sure to research online and take the help of an expert . This will also show that you are up to date with the latest trends and technology and maybe even add a few more points to your name. Impression plays a big role in searching for a job.
15. Career Change:
This last point may be a little tricky, you have experience in a particular field of work for a couple of years and now you are applying for a particular job that is outside your work experience; however, you have educated yourself on the new trade and acquired skills that will help you with the different field. Freelancing jobs will be great for your experience especially with new skills and this will look great on your resume, otherwise make sure to capitalize on the result that you will provide in the new field and educate yourself on everything there is to know with the new job since this will help you look informed and actually knows what you are doing.
Those are therefore a few problems that most job seekers faces with when writing, updating or cleaning their resumes, how to fix the problems are also added along with each problem. Narrowing down what your exact problem is will help you to come up with a solution quickly and easily, use the help of someone else to give a critique on your content and research thoroughly before you send your resume for the final evaluation. It is good to spend more time on getting your resume done right the first time so that you are able to get the best first impression.
