No matter the state of the economy or the employment market, a job seeker must always remember to never treat their resume in a lazy fashion. Many of the applications that employers, hiring managers and interviewers have tossed in “File 13” over the years had few but glaring errors that they believed were red flags indicating that a specific applicant didn’t care enough to present their best first impression.
1. Text Errors.
It doesn’t matter if you’re applying for a position in an office or a garage. Heavy use of computers across industries means that even the employers who manage labor-intensive processes, manufacturing for example, expect applicants to have comprehensive reading and writing computer skills. Always make certain to double check your submission for typos, missing punctuation marks, grammatical errors and sentence and paragraph structure contextual problems.
2. Repeating The Same Words.
A lot of applicants incorrectly believe that they can convince an employer to hire them if they merely hammer one point several times. As a result, they use the same language to describe their roles in similar past work history positions. Many employers and hiring managers actually experience fatigue and irritation when they read resumes that feature too much repetition. They also perceive this type of presentation as a sign that the applicant lacks creativity.
3. Not Using Action Words.
Some people treat their resume like a skills or duties list instead of a document that’s supposed to attract and engage the reader. Instead of using bland or nonspecific language, punch up the document by using action verbs and first person “I” statements written with self-promotion in mind. Think of every statement as one critical piece of a larger advertisement that focuses on scenarios that involved the use of marketable and valuable abilities, skills and creative decisions.
4. False Or Fake Details About Your Previous Jobs.
Of course, some applicants also go the wrong direction and overdo their sales pitches by using false statements. You need to take care to not use any dishonest language or descriptions that imply that you have more knowledge or greater skills than you actually possess. For example, if you took a few classes in a foreign language without achieving fluency, you shouldn’t put that language in a list of secondary languages.
5. Poor Presentation And Word Structure.
Most people can’t stand to look at or read certain types of content presentations. Always break up the text into sections that have at least primary headers, summaries and bullet points to prevent a “wall” of text on the page. On the other hand, some career hiring managers also dislike looking at too many bullet points, for example. It’s important to keep the layout balanced so that it has a pleasant and striking positive overall appearance that doesn’t feature an overload of text, white space or bullet points.
6. Not Enough Contact Information.
A candidate for any position in today’s market must show that they’re always easy to reach and globally connected in a PR-friendly fashion that an employer can use to their advantage. Some applicants never even list an email address. Beyond basic contact details like an address and phone number, provide one email address that you check daily, a secondary number and an online website URL that outlines more information about you like an online portfolio or a blog.
7. Not Having A Call To Action.
Although most applicants are told to focus on using “call to action” statements in their cover letters, the fact is that your submission should also have at least one CTA statement. You should include it either in the “Summary” section that describes your goals or as a short message at the end of the document. Using action verbs, explain why you’re the perfect choice for the job and remind the interviewer to contact you. Don’t list your contact details in the CTA. Instead, offer decision-makers a reason to contact you, such as a statement about your ideas to improve their business.