Top 5 mistakes you are making in your resume (and how to correct them)
1. You are adding an objective in your resume
Objectives should not be included in a resume. You do not have to indicate that you need a job, that is why you’re sending a resume in the first place.
Instead, include a professional summary that resonates with the kind of professional you are and the skills that you possess.
Bad summaries are a waste of space and, if too general, won’t add value to your resume. Try replacing an objective consisting of “Experienced professional seeking career growth” with a summary consisting of specific deliverables, for example, “an accomplished marketing manager with experience in delivering award-winning campaigns for startups as well as Fortune 500 clients”.
2. Your resume has poor writing
Poor writing in a resume is a broad outline inclusive of fancy and unreadable fonts, for one. You have to make sure that the font used in the resume does not exceed three fonts and maximizes the ease of readability.
There is an increased tendency to make your resume ATS friendly, which will lead you to boost your resume with keywords. Sometimes, some of these keywords are not relevant to your resume, which then reduces the credibility of your job application. Some overused keywords are, strategic thinker, go-to person, problem-solving skills, detail-oriented, thinking outside the box.
You need to write your resume in such a manner that someone who doesn’t belong to your industry can read and comprehend your resume with elan.
Here’s a fix, try reading your resume out loud, and I am sure you’ll catch a lot of potential alerts in the midst of it. Don’t waste valuable space in your resume by including personal information such as your marital status, nationality, religious beliefs, etc. It is illegal for employers to ask them and make a hiring decision based on these.
3. Your resume is not formatted impeccably
Employers don’t have the time to read each line of your resume and always skim it to search for relevant points. Please don’t use more than two text sizes in your resume and put a lot of importance on the design front of it. While using bullet points is an excellent way to retain attention, overusing them can kill the deal.
The most obvious of all is committing zero typo errors in your resume. Any spelling mistakes or formatting woes directly indicate that you don’t care about your application.
4. You are using passive tone in the resume
You have got to use action verbs instead of ‘responsible for.’
While these successfully give off a first-hand account of your job accomplishments, they also help improve your resume’s active tone.
Here’s an example, passive of “ 32% of revenue growth was realized by our team in 16 months” leads to the active tone, “Team achieved a 32% revenue growth over 16 months”. Which version would you prefer?
5. You are leaving off important information
You can add depth to your candidature by adding links to your professional social media handles, eg. LinkedIn, GitHub, etc. making your resume your stand-alone professional document.
But make sure to leave off pictures of yourself in the resume. Also, edit out “references available on request” and instead use LinkedIn’s recommendation to highlight your professional skills. Now, how about Hyperlinking your resume into your resume’s pdf? That is a pro tip.
Implement these fixes, and I am sure you are already on the right path.
Do you have any other mistakes which you think should be avoided? Let me know in the comments below.
I have a blog called Empower To Strive (https://www.empowertostrive.com) and write on the Growth Mindset. You should read more articles like there, there. I can’t wait to meet you, there. Thanks!
