5 Things to Avoid in a Resume

I have reviewed over 20,000+ resumes in the last 12 years, so I want to share a hand full of things you should avoid in your resume, that will help you increase your chances of getting an interview. 

First up, grammatical errors. Your resume is your first impression on paper, so if you can’t take the time to use the correct punctuation and grammar, that’s not going to instill a lot of confidence in a hiring manager regarding your attention to detail or written communication skills. Make sure you take the time to proofread your resume over and over again, and have someone else take a look at it. We often overlook our mistakes because we know what we are trying to say. You do not want something like spelling a word wrong or having a comma in the wrong place, exclude you from an interview. So, please take the time. Do not create any unnecessary stumbling blocks before you even have a chance to speak to a decision maker.

Secondly, avoid using pronouns like I, me, or my. You wrote your resume; everything in your resume has to do with you, your experience, what you have accomplished, and what you bring to the table. So, you don’t need to say “I” did this or “my” whatever. Cut those words out. Use action verbs. Let’s say you are in sales, an example of something not to say in your resume would be, “I achieved 150% to my sales quota for 2018.” A better way to articulate that in your resume would be, “Achieved 150% to sales quota for 2018.” Remove the pronoun and keep it very specific and to the point. You want to keep your resume as concise as possible and maximize the real estate, so to speak, by keeping it focused on what you have accomplished. 

Third, avoid inconsistent formatting. Most hiring managers spend less than a couple minutes reviewing your resume before they decide if they want to schedule an interview or not. This is one reason why formatting and consistency throughout your resume is so critical. You want to make sure a manager can easily find what they are looking for. Whether that be looking for certain titles, experiences, accomplishments, or software tools that you have used in the past. Your resume should be laid out cleanly, precisely, articulately, and professionally so when a hiring manager looks at it, they find what they are looking for and say yes to scheduling an interview. 

Fourth, avoid pointless objectives. Unless you can write an articulate objective that speaks to your previous experience or what you bring to the table, and how that relates to what the company is hiring for, don’t put it on your resume. You need to write an objective that is speaking directly to the opportunity that you are applying for, and to the experience you bring to the table as it relates to that opportunity. You are going to need to customize your objective when you are applying to different opportunities. Again, make sure the objective always ties the value that you bring back to the company or position, or speaks to something that you read in the job description.

Fifth, lists of tasks or responsibilities without value. This ties into what we were just talking about in regard to your objective. If it doesn’t add value, it doesn’t belong on your resume. When you are thinking about your previous experience and different jobs that you have had, think through what you were responsible for and what you did every day, but you don’t want your resume to be one long job description. You want your resume to highlight your strengths, your accomplishments, how you have grown in your career and what you bring to the table. When you are filing in your resume and you are writing about your previous experience, make sure it is focused on value. It should not just be things like, “responded to emails every day, answered 50 calls a day,” etc. Example, if you are in a customer service position and you are taking a lot of calls, let’s say 50 calls in a day but everyone else on your team was only taking 25 calls in a day, then you would want to write something like, “Successfully handled 50+ customer service calls with a 5-star customer service rating on a regular basis.” Something like that, or “Doubled average call volume with exceptional customer service rating compared to coworkers.” You can see the difference between “handling 50 customer service calls a day”, compared to articulating the speed and the quality in which you handled those 50 customer service calls.

To recap, avoid grammatical errors, they do not have a place on your resume or anywhere when it comes to the interview process or applying for a new job. Avoid using pronouns like I, me, and my. Avoid inconsistent formatting, so that it is clear and easy to read your resume in a timely matter. Get rid of those pointless objectives. Lastly, avoid lists of tasks without the value of what you accomplished while you were completing those tasks, in your previous work experience.

For more Resume Tips, grab 10 Tactical Tips for Writing an Effective Resume here: https://mailchi.mp/liveyourbestworklife.com/resume-tips