Writing a resume is no easy task, no matter how long you’ve been in the game or how confident you are in your skills and experience. However, there are some steps that will make the process easier and turn your resume into a document that will attract the attention of the right people. If your resume isn’t getting the attention you want, then there’s a good chance you’ve made at least one of the following common mistakes.
1. Allowing for inconsistencies
Even if start dates are not listed correctly, it can be a red flag for employers. “Check your dates. Make sure everything is in its place everywhere; On LinkedIn, in your resume, in personnel records; Because we can control it and we will. Another area is your job title. Don’t try to fool us with an inflated title other than the one you have. This is easily verifiable,” says Frank Dadah, WinterWyman personnel manager. Solution to this error: Before submitting your resume, make sure all information lines up with your LinkedIn profile and personnel records.
2. Keeping it too long
The standard recommendation for resume length is to keep it to one or two pages. New and junior employees will have a resume that is close to one page, but as you progress in your career, you will have more valuable information that will start to fill the second page. An experienced IT professional can easily fill out 3 pages; even after eliminating outdated skills and experience.
The question of how long usually boils down to this: If your resume contains anything other than the most relevant information, it is too long. Highlight your most impressive achievements and awards to attract the attention of the personnel manager and the recruiter. Solution to this mistake: Learn how to keep your resume short and sweet, and how to impressively bypass the rules when that’s not possible.
3. Failing to focus
Creating a focus for your resume will provide a reference point that will tie everything together. This is based on your work experience, skills and your achievements It helps you create a feeling of fluidity between
Finding a focus for your resume is easier than you think. Think about what makes you unique as an employee and how you differ from others in your field. Or you can find a way to highlight your past experience and accomplishments to show how you can translate to their new job needs and skills.
Solution to this mistake: JM Auron, resume writer and owner of Quantum Tech Resumes, uses the “challenge, action, and consequences” method to organize career history and create a theme for a resume. You can see this technique in a recent resume edit; Here, Auron takes a disorganized resume, focuses on the challenges the candidate faces, and makes it more cohesive by showing how the candidate responded to the situation and produced valuable results.
4. Using buzzwords and technical jargon
your resume The first person reading may not have any experience in your specific industry. Even if you’re working with a tech recruiter, you can’t expect them to be accustomed to technical jargon. Your goal is to make your resume easy to read and understand, while also demonstrating your relevant skills and experience.
You should avoid overused buzzwords as well as technical jargon; These will open the recruiter’s eyes wide. A resume full of buzzwords also runs the risk of being missed by applicant tracking systems that are programmed to ignore overused phrases.
According to LinkedIn data, the most used resume buzzwords are: “specialized, leadership, experienced, passionate, strategic, excellent, focused, creative, enthusiastic and successful.”
The solution to this mistake: Darain Faraz, LinkedIn’s head of brand marketing and communications, says you should be wary of any language that “generalizes” what you do; This includes industry jargon. Instead, highlight skills and accomplishments that show how you embody these buzzwords. For example, if you are passionate about open source software, show your passion by including any related volunteer or nonprofit work on your resume.
5. Failing to tell your career story
Your career story begins with your first job and never stops evolving. It is special and personal to you. It is also what sets you apart from others in your field. This is how you tell employers what they’ll get when they hire you that they wouldn’t get if they hired someone else with similar experience. Without a good career story, you can’t show how you gained new skills and experiences and how they helped you advance your career.
Solution to this mistake: Look at your accomplishments to see how they connect to your current career goals. Highlight any experiences you have that show a recruiter that you have the right skills and experiences for your desired job. You may even decide to leave some skills or achievements off your resume if they are not compatible with your career path. “Remember that past experiences should provide a foundation for understanding why someone is good at what they do now,” says IT resume writer Jennifer Hay of ITResumeService.com.
6. Not being able to create your own brand
If you can’t build your own professional brand, you run the risk of letting other people do it for you.
Part of your branding involves seeing where your career is going; If you want to be a CIO, you should start branding yourself as an executive early on. Keep this brand in mind when writing your resume and remember to write your resume for the job you desire, not for the job you have.
Your brand is different from your career story; it’s more about who you are, your values, and how you present yourself professionally. It’s how you reinforce yourself and build a reputation within the industry. Don’t be shy to inject some personality into your resume; Even if you want to stay quiet, you can still find ways to show employers who you are.
Solution to this mistake: “These days, branding plays a much larger role in promoting a job seeker’s candidacy. These summary paragraphs are completed through a strategic combination of achievement credentials, achievement images, pedigree evidence, and core competencies. All of these subsections add keywords to the resume, but more critically, they also add focus and insight into the job seeker’s unique experience, accomplishments, and talents,” says Cheryl Simpson, president of Executive Resume Rescue.
7. Ignoring formatting and spelling errors
Details are important. Make sure there are no typos in your cover letter and resume may seem like obvious advice, but after looking at the same document for hours, some small mistakes can be overlooked.
“Communication skills are highly valued in most jobs. If you can’t communicate well, even on your own behalf, recruiters won’t be interested,” says Rick Endres, former Congressional CIO and president of Washington Network.
Solution to this error: “Make sure your verb tenses are all the same. If you use a comma at the end of each bullet, use it in all of them, otherwise use it in none,” says Dadah. If you have the opportunity, have another person take a look at your CV; A fresh set of eyes can help catch any mistakes you may have missed.
8. Not marketing yourself well
Many people are shy about self-promotion, but you shouldn’t be afraid to brag a little on your CV. You want to sell your skills and achievements to impress employers and stand out from the competition.
“When an IT professional goes beyond just the end result and thinks about how to achieve results within a challenging business and technical context, then they are unique,” says Hay.
Solution to this mistake: The executive summary at the top of your resume is the perfect place to showcase your talents, skills, and greatest achievements. Instead of burying skills, accomplishments, and awards under different titles, you can take the most important assets from each job and move them to the top of your resume. Think of your executive summary as your first impressions; it introduces you as a potential candidate and sets the tone for the rest of your resume.
