It’s challenging to master resumes. In fact, the cost of a CV created by a qualified career coach now ranges from $100 to $400 in 2022. What makes individuals think they must pay for these documents, then?
A resume is more than simply a piece of paper you must attach to a job application. They are your first opportunity to make a good first impression on a potential employer, and technological advancements have made it even more challenging to pass the screening process. Before a resume even reaches the desk of an employer, it is scanned and approved using tools like applicant tracking systems.
How do you pass these applicant tracking systems and leave a positive impression? Take a look at some of the things these business experts advised against including on your next resume.
Vague Qualities or Skills
Being vague about the talents you can bring to the table while applying for a certain position is one of the biggest blunders you can make today. You can review the job description provided by the employers to decide if this is a position you’d be interested in applying for. The company will be aware if you are providing the same general talents to all of them because you aren’t tailoring each resume for each application. You won’t only have any matches in the applicant tracking system, but the employer will also notice that you didn’t care enough to pay attention to what they were searching for in a candidate.
Between a characteristic and skill, there is a significant distinction. Even if you tell a potential employer that you are “responsible” or “creative,” unless you have the credentials to back it up, your CV will appear to have been fluffed. Spend some time identifying the precise abilities and experiences listed in the job description, then state them similarly on your resume. This demonstrates to the company that you are the applicant they are seeking in addition to the fact that you took the time to read what they have written. Additionally, if they use an applicant tracking system, using their language and explicitly required abilities will make your resume appear as a very high match.
College Information
It can be tempting to include on your CV any details that can make you more qualified for a position. However, companies are unlikely to be interested in what you did in high school unless you are a current high school student or have graduated within the last six months. An employer is normally more interested in your abilities and experiences than your high school GPA, however, there are certain exceptions to this rule.
Generally speaking, it would be unnecessary to include all of your high school information. Having said that, you can list employment during your high school years in your experience sections along with any membership in clubs or organizations. An employer is unlikely to be interested in the information listed in the education section, such as your high school’s name, your GPA, the classes you took, or the sports you participated in unless you attended a trade school where your high school experience served as both job training and classroom instruction.
Irrelevant Employment History
You may be surprised to learn that a resume might contain too much information. Even if you may have held a variety of jobs and experiences, it is advised that you just choose the ones that are most pertinent to the position you are looking for. This is when tailoring your resume to each position will be helpful.
Keep your resume to 1 page for every 10 years of experience in the profession or industry you’re applying to, according to the usual rule of thumb. This is a generally acknowledged practice because, as employers, we are more interested in your experience related to this position than in the five or six various part-time jobs you held while in college. Leave off the occupations that didn’t give you the most transferable abilities for the positions you are going for. Instead of only having space for one or two bullets for each position, this will allow you to include more talents for each job.
Too Many Personal Details
A resume is a professional piece of writing. You should therefore refrain from including a lot of personal information on your resume. Personal information might include anything from hobbies to family details to full street addresses and more.
There are appropriate times and places to be humorous or outgoing and discuss these topics, but your CV is not one of them. Additionally, other elements like pictures may pose serious issues. Because they don’t want to be accused of favoring applicants based solely on appearance, some businesses label them as HR violations in addition to causing issues with applicant tracking systems. Last but not least, you no longer have to list your complete street address on your CV. We won’t mail you a request for an interview, and like everything else done online, there’s no guarantee that the information will get to the correct people. Don’t give them all of your personal information right away because there are job scammers out there.
Various Documents
You shouldn’t include any more files with your resume unless specifically requested. It can be alluring to combine your cover letter, CV, and references into a single file to send to a potential employer so they receive everything at once, but there might be a good reason why they haven’t specifically requested this.
If there is no instruction to put your other application materials in the same file as your resume, don’t. You can bring those to an interview if we require them later; we’ll let you know if we do. Because application tracking systems are not designed to evaluate cover letters and references, they seriously lower your score. Furthermore, we can be using a file organization scheme where we need to keep everything distinct. Don’t be the employee that requires the employer to save your files separately because you are unable to follow directions.
Ineffective Bullet Points
The easiest technique to convey your idea in a document is with bullet points. In fact, “avoid paragraphs” may have been added as another point here. While scanning a resume, employers may quickly see the qualifications and experience listed in bullet points. It takes time and practice to become a good bullet point writer, but it might be what makes you stand out from the crowd.
For every position posted, employers receive dozens of applications. You must take all necessary steps to ensure that they promptly and effectively see the content on your document. Your bullet points are the most effective approach to accomplish this. Make sure you are using the STAR approach, which stands for circumstance, task, action, and outcome. Using this technique to compose a bullet is a wonderful place to start since you only have around 5 to 6 seconds to make a solid first impression on an employer. If you can, try to limit them to one line as well. Keep in mind that the purpose of your resume is to get a job interview—not to tell potential employers everything about you and your experience.
Final Note
It can be a little intimidating to write a resume, but going step-by-step and eliminating some of these common errors can help you increase your chances of getting that interview.
About the Author/s
The New Jersey Digest is a new jersey magazine that has chronicled daily life in the Garden State for over 10 years.
