And when I'm working with clients and I help them to build a resume and they're looking at it and they're saying
Is that me? Oh my gosh. That's me. I can't believe it. I would hire me
Hey Badasses, welcome back to the Badass Careers YouTube channel
Which is all about helping you to build the career of your dreams
If this is our first time meeting, my name is Rosie and after 10 years and HR and recruitment
I became a corporate dropout to follow my dream of becoming an online career coach to help you guys to have truly
badass careers and I'm really excited to jump into today's video because it's all about
Resumes and resumes are quite frankly one of my most favorite things in the world
Because it's such a strategic marketing document and it can truly open doors, but because it can open such big doors
every centimeter
matters like maybe back in 2003
You could kind of have one of those generic
Microsoft Word template
Documents where all you had to do was change the name of the company and just send them out and mass and maybe that worked
Back then and you still got an interview, but you can't do things like that today
You've got to be very intentional with your resume to stand out from the crowd the crowded market, right?
We're in a completely different world. The Internet has given more and more people access to higher education
It's easier to acquire skills and to self-study and so of course, it's just getting harder and harder to differentiate yourself
but what I specialize in is creating the kind of resume which is sleek and
impactful and
not too much and it convinces recruiters and hiring managers to meet you because they open it and they're like wow and when I'm
working with clients and I help them to build a resume and they're looking at it and they're saying
Is that me? Oh my gosh, that's me. I can't believe it. I would hire me and I'm like of course you would hire you
I would hire you heaps of people would hire you but they can barely believe it's them and that they looked at good because they
Were making some pretty common resume mistakes
So I'm gonna go through these resume mistakes in this video so that you don't get caught out making the same one
so the first major mistake is really not tailoring your resume for
Every single job you apply to and I know you might think
Oh my gosh
That would take so much time how exhausting but it completely flips the dynamic if rather than just sending that a hundred
generic resume as we've just made a few quick edits versus
Tailoring a resume for five jobs that you really really want
I promise you you'll get more interviews taking the second option
And this is because if you really want to tell yourself you need to put yourself in the shoes of the other
Person and think to yourself. What do they need? What are they looking for?
What problems do they need solving and when they open your resume it should scream I've understood I get it and I can do it
And here's how because let me tell you companies are receiving regularly 300 plus applications for each job
and so if you just have five of those people who go above and beyond and make that extra little bit of effort and you
Didn't you won't even have a chance at in an interview. The second point is that people are using really complex
Unnatural or technical language. So if I were to hand your resume to someone outside of your industry
Would they still be able to understand because you have to remember that a lot of HR people are not experts
They won't necessarily understand all of the technical lingo and the acronyms they need to know very quickly yet
I read the Job Description and I can do this job. So is it saying that and is the language that you're using?
Clear and I'm also a really big fan of just speaking like a human. So rather than saying
Seasoned and experienced professional with bla ba ba ba bla just kind of speak in a punchy way in an effective way
but read it out loud just to check that the language you're using is
understandable and easy and simple
The next big mistake is not working on the format enough and I'm not saying that this needs to look like a graphic designer made
It although you can easily do that without having any graphic design skills
And if you actually download my killer resume cheat sheet and the description box down below
You'll see an example of a resume that I pulled together
Using a software program called Canva and it's super easy to use and you can make your resume look really beautiful
I'm not so much talking about that though
I'm more talking about clarity in the formatting so big mistake I see is people using paragraphs of text
so
aside from your initial
Summary section at the top where you're basically summing up for the recruiter who you are and why you can do the job
This shouldn't be long sentences anywhere and they should never be more than two three sentences in a row at all
Everything should be built for skim reading everything be bulleted out use of color use of headlines
Whatever you need to do and the use of white space, of course, whatever you need to do to make it clear
and so when the recruiter is literally like
The key words and the key information is popping out at them
I also think that the effort that you put into your resume is a real reflection
about how you're gonna do the job and I know that a lot of recruiters and HR managers feel the same if you're going for
$100,000 per year role and you couldn't really be bothered to make sure that your resume your marketing pitch your document
Looked sleek and professional and modern doesn't really scream to me
I'm someone who goes above and beyond and I'm someone who adds that final extra little touch on to everything
I do and you want it to say that the next mistake is having an objective section
Because these are completely outdated and they just should not exist on resumes anymore
I actually went into this point in a lot more detail and this video that I did which was around four keys to really crafting
A killer resume but effectively an objective section why that doesn't work anymore because it used to be about all about what you were seeking
It was of course you want the job?
So you're saying I'm seeking to gain employment in this or I want to develop in this area. I want to grow in this area
Your objective was very self centered
Sentences like "I'm looking for a company where I can further develop my skills in" should be completely banned
This is not the stage of the process where we talk about what you would like in terms of development
You've got to make it all about them
You've got to make it really clear to the recruiter what your fit is for the role why you're an obvious match for the role?
And how you can solve the problem that they have which they presented in the job ad
It's also an awesome opportunity to head toward your culture fit around you know, what your core strengths are. What makes you different
What's the secret sauce that you're going to add to the team?
And what keeps you motivated what drives you ultimately as a person if we just take this quick snippet as a really easy example
International HR professional with eight plus years experience and a healthy obsession for digital learning
Wanting to take Spotify the online learning platform to the next level
So they're mega talented people can shine even brighter just in the sentence
you have a summary of what my
experiences in what I'm specialized or an expert in what I would have obsessed with and and my why the
Mission that I relate to I love the idea of taking
mega talented people and making them shine even brighter. Now the next mistake that I see often on resumes and this one's
Huge you guys you've got to ditch the cliches down with cliches and by the cliches
I often mean the vague self descriptors that people use like I'm a hard-working
Motivated individual I'm a seasoned problem solver
I work well individually as well as on a team the thing is when you're describing yourself as things like goal oriented
or strong work ethic
it's completely subjective anyone could say that about themselves and quite frankly any hiring manager would just
Expect those things as a bare minimum, you know, that's just a given for a successful candidate for really exciting roles
So what I really want you to do is try to think how can you replace these really dry and ordinary adjectives that?
Everyone's using and swap it out with accomplishments and proof points
Which say you are those things without you having to say it?
So for example imagine you say something like this and your summary. "By becoming an expert in the scrum agile methodology
I was able to empower the wider team to successfully bring 50 projects to completion over the past three years
With over 90% being completed within budget. What would you say about this person?
You'd say that that goal-oriented you'd say that they're able to get people working together their collaborative. They must be super organized
They can manage projects simultaneously. It says so much about them without them having to say it the next mistake
I see all the time is people using very
Weak verbs when they're describing what they've done and what they've accomplished. These are verbs like
Helped
Facilitated
Supported, aided wether you realize that or not. They're putting you in a lower position and therefore a lower salary bracket
Get out of here Sharon I want you to get those power verbs out. Power verbs are things like resolves lead
Created, initiated, designed, they're zesty, they're engaging, they spark curiosity and they sell you and put you at a higher level
Of work and of competence, so when that recruiters spinning just six seconds scanning your resume
You're gonna snap them out of their trance with these power verbs really important point. Don't repeat them though
There's nothing worse when you're looking at resume and you're like, ooh initiated that's a nice word and then every single bullet point
Basically, its like, initiated, managed, initiated, managed, you know
Make sure every bullet point starts with a fresh new verb
You wouldn't believe the difference
that this makes you already start planting the seeds all the way at the beginning of the process with your resume when it comes to
your salary negotiations down the line the last mistake I really want to touch on in this video is not tailoring your resume to
ATS the applicant tracking system
So in 2020 most employers
98 percent of Fortune 500 companies and lots of medium and small companies as well are using what are called
Applicant tracking systems to help them cut through the volume of CVS
they're receiving and these are algorithms and robots that scan your documents your cover letters your CVS and they decide whether or not
It's worth showing your profile to a real person to the recruiter
And please let me know by commenting below if you'd like to see an entire video on this because I could go on for hours
But basically you need to think about the language and the keywords that are being used in the job description
But also by the company in general what are their values?
What do they say about their culture all of these kinds of things and making small little shifts?
Like if they talk about leadership experience in their job ad and you talk about management experience
You're going to need to update that to match the language that they're using in their job ad so it can be tiny little factors
like that that can make the difference between
You getting across the line and in front of a real recruiter or not and a really cool free tool for this is a Job Scan
So you can use Job Scan. You can actually upload the job description
You can upload your resume and will generate
percentage match for you and actually even give you some tips as to how you could better align your resume to the job ad so
Definitely check that out. So guys
I hope that this was really useful and that you might be making any more of these mistakes ever again in your resume if you
Want even more tips and tricks about resumes. I have a killer resume cheat sheet. Its completely free
Check it out in the description box down below
I'll leave the link down there
It gives you even more tips and advice as to how to craft a really badass
Resume if you like career development content like this. Please give this video a like subscribe to my channel
I'll be back every single week with new content for you
So until next time I'll say stay badass and see you in the next video. Bye