What makes a bad resume a bad resume?
Stick around because in this video I’m going to share with you 6 common mistakes that people
make that can make your resume a bad resume.
And be sure to stay till the end because I'm also going to share with you some of the funniest
resume mistakes I’ve seen!
I can’t state strongly enough the importance of a solidly written, on message resume.
But most people struggle with this.
It’s hard for us to talk about ourselves.
But sometimes it’s the easy and obvious mistakes that’ll derail your efforts in
making a good impression with your resume.
Let’s talk about the 6 most common resume mistakes I see that can turn a potentially
stellar resume into a bad resume.
Number 1 – An unprofessional email address
Your resume isn’t the place to get cute with your email address and when you start
a professional job search that’s the time to let go of your teenage or unprofessional
email address.
I generally recommend that your email address be some fairly simple iteration of your name
so if you don’t already have your email set up this way, just set up a new Gmail account
that you use for job search purposes only.
Also, tell me in the comments, was your first email address suitable for a resume?
Next is Number 2 - Only listing your job duties
It’s not enough to just list your job duties, you must incorporate your measurable achievements.
You want to be able to demonstrate the value you bring to the table and the best way to
do this is to include your achievements in your resume.
And the more numbers your can incorporate into these achievements, the more they’ll
resonate with your reader.
I have a video that will show you where to place your achievements on your resume, I’ll
drop a link for that down below so be sure to have a look at that.
Number 3 - Lack of action verbs
You should aim to make every bullet point in your Experience section begin with a strong
action verb.
Words like “Managed”, “Developed”, and “Led”, are so much more powerful than
something like “Responsible for”.
And don’t repeat the same verb within the same position.
Next is Number 4 - Spelling and Grammatical errors
This goes without saying but most recruiters aren’t too forgiving of sloppy errors and
I'm not just talking about spelling errors.
This includes grammatical errors which spellcheck is not going to catch, so always have someone
proofread your resume.
Also be sure you aren’t changing tenses from past to present tense in the same job
experience section.
Be consistent so it’s not confusing.
Number 5 - Formatting issues
Formatting issues will not only turn off the recruiter but they can possibly cause your
resume to get kicked out of the online applicant tracking systems.
Make the effort to have a neat and professional looking resume.
I’ve seen resumes with bullet points that weren’t lined up, or were even different
sizes, margins that were either too wide or too narrow,
fonts that were too small – you don’t want to use a font smaller than 10, because
it’s going to be really hard to read.
And if it’s hard to read for the recruiter, they’re going to toss it.
And avoid these graphic resumes.
This type of format, while it looks good, isn’t functional because one, you’re making
it difficult for the recruiter to find the things that they’re looking for—they just
aren’t sure where to look, but two, with all the tables and text boxes on this template,
this resume may not be able to be read by applicant tracking systems.
Just keep your formatting simple and print out your resume and take a good look at it
to make sure you don’t have any of the formatting issues I just mentioned.
And finally, Number 6 - Wasting space
Stating “References available upon request”, listing hobbies, or mentioning any other personal
information is not only inappropriate, but it’s a huge waste of space.
Also, listing job duties or achievements that aren’t really related to your target position
is a waste of space if you can use that area for more relevant content.
You should be tailoring your resume to each position you apply for so if a bullet point
or two isn’t related to this position, replace it with one that is.
You have limited real estate on your resume, be smart about what you include on it.
Okay, so this job search stuff can get pretty serious so let’s lighten it up a bit I wanted
to share some funny resume mistakes…don’t do this!