If you’re sending your resume out and not receiving any callbacks or interviews, there’s a good chance it’s being pitched after a short glance.
Many job seekers make mistakes that hiring managers won’t overlook. Here are a few common resume mistakes you need to look out for:
- Keywords. If your resume doesn’t have key phrases or words that relate to the job you’re applying to, the hiring manager will toss it. A good rule is to look at the job description and pull phrases from it. If you’re a top salesman applying for a managerial position and you don’t mention any leadership skills, why should you be hired? Good selling doesn’t mean you’ll be a good manager—you’ve got to sell yourself.
- Information overload. Listing every detail of every job you’ve worked for is likely to lose the hiring manager’s attention. Fill your resume with strong points that show off your skills.
- Inexplicable gaps. Many job seekers have gaps on their resumes or short-term employment dates. It might be for completely legitimate reasons and many figure they can explain those gaps at the interview, but what makes you think you’ll even get an interview? Hiring managers are wary when they see gaps—explain it in the resume.
- Spelling mistakes. They’re never going to be okay. We all know smart people who are terrible spellers. That’s not the point; the point is that you took the time to go over and polish your resume, showing professionalism (something every employer is looking for). Spelling and grammar mistakes can convey sloppiness in overall work performance.
- Unrelated job experience. If you’re applying for a job as an account executive but you’re listing your previous employment and skills as an esthetician or ski instructor—even if you have lots of other relevant experience included—you could be causing the hiring manager to scratch his or her head. What do facials or ski lessons have to do with maintaining corporate client relations?
So pull out your resume and go through it line by line abiding by these rules. If you’re still not sure, send it to the team at Employment BOOST. We’re one of the only resume writing firms that performs quantitative and qualitative analysis of your resume by cross-referencing it against your competition within a database of millions.