Resume is the most important tool in job hunting. It is a jobseeker’s ‘brochure’ and ‘initial point of sales material’. Therefore, you should be extra careful—and more importantly, factual—when writing your resume. You must take into consideration that hiring managers receive a hundred of resumes every day and that they only scan and ‘judge’ your resume in three to five seconds. If your resume fails to catch their attention in such a short span, you can kiss your hiring chances—or your career—good bye! It is best that before sending it to your prospective employers, you must check—and double check—every thing that is written in your resume.
How then do hiring managers assess your resume at a glance? What do they look for in a resume for it to easily land in the trash can? Here is the list:
Poor grammar, typographical and spelling errors
Focus on job descriptions rather than accomplishments
Inaccuracy of dates, or missing dates
Missing contact info, or inaccurate or unprofessional email addresses
Poor formatting
Functional resumes
Long resumes
Long, dense paragraphs; no bullet points
Candidate applying for position he/she is not qualified for
Include personal information not related to the job
No employer information
Lying, misleading, especially about educational attainment, dates and inflated titles
Meaningless introductions or objectives
Poor font choice
Resumes sent in formats other than “word”, faxed, web page resumes and mailed resumes
Existence of pictures, graphics or URL links
No easy-to-follow summary
Resumes written in first or third person
Gaps in employment
Bury important information in the resume
If you want to have the best resume, you may want to consider hiring a professional resume writer to avoid being in the list. Remember your resume can make or break your career. Why should you care about spending money? After all, resume is your ticket to the bright future awaiting you.
Hiring a professional writer to do your resume will definitely improve your chances of receiving invitation for interview. They are knowledgeable that they spend quality time in constructing your resume. Resume writing is an art. They have mastered this art to help you land up with a plum job.
