Newsletter Archive

APRIL 2009

Avoid These Top 5 Resume Mistakes
     
Your resume is typically the first contact that you make with a prospective employer. To be effective, it must present your skills and experience in a concise yet compelling way so that you will be invited for an interview.

Many of my coaching clients have resumes that don't do a good job of communicating their qualifications. The problems usually involve information that is poorly edited or not prioritized; too many details; and a lack of marketing finesse (surprising as it may sound, your resume is a marketing tool that is selling you).
 
Listed below are five resume mistakes to avoid. They are not the only mistakes made on resumes, but they are common ones that can hurt your chances of landing a job. 
 
Mistake #1: A resume that's too long. The purpose of a resume is to highlight experience and accomplishments that are relevant to the position you are currently seeking. It is not a review of every task you performed at every job you've ever held. Some of my clients bring in resumes that are 3 or 4 pages long and packed with details about positions held 15 or 20 years ago.
 
The human resources or hiring manager who reads your resume wants to quickly determine whether your background matches the job requirements. This individual typically must sift through a large stack of resumes to find the few candidates who will be brought in for interviews. Lengthy documents are hard to read and will probably be passed over.
 
Generally speaking, your resume should be one or two pages long and list jobs that you've held within the past decade. If you have relevant experience from more than 10 years ago, consider consolidating it under one heading. For example, Jill summarized three technical writing jobs under the category "Early Writing Experience." 
 
Mistake #2: A resume that's too short. Sometimes a resume does not provide enough information about an individual's skills and experience. Peter worked for a historical association for 3 years yet listed his experience simply as "Researcher." When we reviewed his duties we were able to include specific skills that are of interest to potential employers. Now his resume reads, "Conducted primary research using a variety of tools including journal databases, monographs, library materials, and the Internet."
 
Mistake #3: Not emphasizing accomplishments. The pragmatic nature of many people with Asperger's Syndrome and NLD can result in resumes that list many specific job tasks but few or no accomplishments. Whenever possible, include examples of how you saved money, improved efficiency or increased sales on the job, preferably using specific numbers. Alison's resume states that she "accurately made and served high quality beverages for over 40 clients per hour." Sarah "suggested improvements that made claims processing 15% more efficient." And Andy "implemented a supply chain plan that reduced inventory by $8 million."
 
Mistake #4: Irrelevant information. Effective resumes are tailored to meet the requirements of jobs that you are applying for now. If you have switched careers, edit your resume to reflect the training, skills and experience that are relevant to current openings.
 
After several unsuccessful engineering jobs early in his career and a four-year stint working at a local convenience store, Jack retrained as a paralegal. Jack's original resume was a hodgepodge of details about engineering degrees, every job he'd held since high school, his convenience store duties, and, oh, yeah, his paralegal training. His new resume focuses on his paralegal education (and 4.0 GPA), and twelve months of part-time experience at a local law firm. The engineering career is briefly summarized in a single paragraph and his years in retail are explained in the context of a family situation. 
 
If you are looking for jobs in very different areas, create a separate resume for each. For instance, Jane has one resume that focuses on her customer service experience in the health care field and another that highlights her technical writing skills. 

Including irrelevant information on your resume confuses employers and may have them wondering what kind of job you really want.
 
Mistake #5: Poor proof reading. It is critically important that your resume is free of typos as well as spelling, grammatical and punctuation errors! Also be sure that formatting is consistent so that, for example, all employment dates are listed the same way, all company names are bold-face, etc. Unless you are a top-notch proof reader, find two or three detail-oriented people to review your resume before you send it out or post it online.

An ineffective resume results in no interviews ... and no job offers. If your resume has not been producing telphone calls and appointments, or if your employment history includes several short-term positions or long gaps between jobs, consider investing in some help from a professional coach or job counselor, or visiting a One-Stop Career Center.
 
Next month: avoiding the top 5 interviewing mistakes.

© 2009 by Barbara Bissonnette, Forward Motion Coaching