A Perfect Resume
A great resume can open the doors of your dream organization for job, but an inferior one can just as promptly shut one. This is why thousands of job seekers are witnessed spending restless days and sleepless nights just in drafting, writing, editing and polishing their RESUMEs. But after so many efforts also if their Resume is not being shortlisted this means that there is some problem in the Resume. In this article, we will deal with this issue. This write up illustrates issues and blunders that job seekers make while drafting their RESUMEs and offer them with a solution for the same.
Blunders to Avoid in Resume Writing
Grammatical and Typo Errors:
Your Resume ought to be grammatically perfect. There should be no typo error also. If these mistakes are made by you, the hiring manager would form a wrong opinion of your personality in his mind just through your Resume.
The solution for this issue is that you should always double check your spellings, your sentences etc. before making the final draft. If possible, have someone proofread your Resume for you. At times, it might be a typo mistake which you could not mark but others proofreading it, may notice and correct it.
Making it Complex:
Certain people feel, that complex RESUMEs can make a good impression on the recruiting manager. But this is entirely a misconception. A complex Resume may reflect your complex personality in front the interviewer. Resume documents must be easy to open, easily printable and understandable.
The solution for it is that RESUMEs should be made simple. Graphics, logos or any other object that obstructs the applicants tracking system should be strictly avoided. You should use a common font, and avoid creativity with borders. Always keep things simple. You can use the resume templates in the word processing program.
Listing Irrelevant Work Experience:
There are many job aspirants who list irrelevant experience while applying for job in question. For instance, if a job seeker is applying for a software developers role in an IT company, he neednot list his teaching experience in a college (assuming that he has teaching experience). He should only focus if he has ever done developing in software domain.
Suggestion here is that the job seeker should only focus on the relevant work experience instead of giving unrelated details of the previous work experience.
Exaggerations:
As Debby Carreau, the president of Inspired HR in Calgary puts it, "Be honest about your skills, achievements and work history. Exaggerating these things can come back at you when your potential employer does background checks or asks you to perform at a certain skill level the first day." Here it is clear that the candidate should never lie or exaggerate about his skills and achievements. If the Resume is replete with exaggerations, the lie would soon be caught and it may blacklist you also.
A word of suggestion here is that Resume writing should be as true as it can be. There is no room for any amplification.
Ignoring Keywords:
Most RESUMEs are reviewed electronically these days before they reach the recruiting managers. The first round of short listing happens through keywords, thus, because of the keyword highlighting software. If your Resume is not full of relevant and industry specific keywords, it may not be indexed by the software.
Solution for this issue is that you should conduct a thorough research of the relevant keywords and try to insert them in the Resume writing. The keywords must be placed at the right place in an accurate amount. They must be repeated occasionally for better indexing.
Being Vague:
Often job seekers put in fake and non-quantifiable tasks and accomplishments in their RESUMEs. At times, they insert in descriptions of the previous position they held in their former organizations. Vague job descriptions appear to be a cut and paste job from a job listing.
Advice here is that you need to be specific while detailing about your achievements. Always put your accomplishments how and what you achieved them instead of simply listing them. You should avoid catchphrases and vagueness in Resume writing.
Not Being Concise:
Job aspirants just go on and on while drafting RESUMEs. But it is not an advisable practice. RESUMEs are not meant to be a five-ten page long story. They have to be precise and short. A long Resume may bring boredom to your manager and he might not be interested in reading it out or analyzing it at all just because of its length.
Solution for this issue is that you need to select words sensibly. Your Resume has to have some white space on the page also. You should rephrase your Resume if it has become too lengthy.
A Generic or A Common Resume
A common Resume for all profiles shows that you are not that interested to take up the job. The managers can make out that you have sent them across the general Resume that has casual and common description. And even if your Resume is apt as per the job description, you need to analyze it, update the information, and rearrange it before sending across to the recruiters.
The advice here is that your Resume must be industry specific. It should not be a generic Resume. For instance, if you are applying in for the post of a Professor, you should tailor make your Resume accordingly. But if you are applying for the role of a trainer the same Resume cannot work. It has to alerted and modified mentioning your forte as a trainer, your previous training assignments.
An Unprofessional Approach
This is one of the common blunders people do in Resume writing. Unprofessional approach can be reflected through:
- Unprofessional Email addresses
- Listing certain hobbies
- Listing Personal interests
- Listing Personal Details
Solution here is that while, Resume writing take care of the email address you provide. Do not use funky and funny email addresses. Do not list your personal details, hobbies your interests unnecessarily.
These tips will certainly help you next time when you sit down for Resume writing.