Sitting down to write a resume is daunting; the thought of recruiters judging your employability based on the information provided in your resume or cover letter can halt even the most professional candidates. A recruiters role is to distinguish between those applicants fit for the job role advertised and those who not.
I have spoken to plenty of recruiters and often the difference between making the call backstage and making the shredding pile can be something as simple as a basic formatting or material error that you may not be aware of.
Below are six common resume mistakes that applicants should avoid:
Often when creating a resume, there can be confusion surrounding what exactly the recruiter is looking for, some applicants may take the more is more approach and bombard their resume with irrelevant information. Recruiters are do not need to know the number of children you have or the ten extracurricular activities you participated in at school.
When compiling the information you think may be necessary, keep the data framed around the experience and skills you required in your previous roles.
Avoid listing any experience that is over ten years old unless it is relevant to the position you are applying for.
Keep your resume as professional as possible, do not go into great detail about your personal life unless it is applicable for the position, i.e. holding a Forklift License when applying to a warehouse store person application.
When submitting your application, you want the recruiter know that you will be an asset to the company, but providing an old or outdated resume can leave the recruiter questioning your motive for applying.
An old and outdated resume lacks effort and enthusiasm and will drop you down to the bottom of the pile before the recruiter has even read your name.
Recruiters need to be able to view a resume and know if it is worth pursuing in a matter of seconds. A cluttered resume is uninviting and often challenging to read; the layout should be reader-friendly, use a font no smaller than size 11 and keep your experience short and to the point. Think of the 3 C’s:
Clean - Leave plenty of white space between each grouping.
Clear - Avoid over complicated sentences.
Concise - Get straight to the point, showcase your relevant skill set.
A recruiter may have found the perfect applicant for a position, but that can all change when met with unprofessional branding. There is nothing worse than a personal email address that is anything but professional, while using the email address you created in high school may be suitable for your Facebook login, drunk_as_a_skunk912@hotmail.com does not scream professional administration exec.
In that same thought, it is also worth checking that your voicemail is polite and to the point, a recruiter is not leaving a voice message for a potential interview if met with “Hey biatches you’ve just missed Charlie, leave a message and I will get back when I can be bothered”.
It is also an excellent time to give all your social media platforms a once over and remove any unflattering images and possible problematic facebook posts or ensure that your personal profile is set to completely private and only viewable by friends.
Check out Hunting Hired’s professional branding package.
It can be hard when all you want is a job, so you apply to countless applications with your standard cover letter and resume each day and wait to hear back. When applying for a role, it is essential to take time to read the application, gather a sense of why you would like this you and what makes you right for the position. Write a cover letter that is catered to that role and details your reasoning for submission; recruiters want to know that this position is worth something to you and not just another application among countless others.
Keywords are essential for any applicant that wants to pass the first round of applications; many companies now implement applicant tracking systems (ATS) when looking for new employees. These systems search the relevance of the applications and remove resumes that do not list any of the compatible skills.
Have a look at multiple job applications for the same or similar positions, and you will notice critical skills popping up, i.e. proficient in MYOB or solid understanding of CAD system. Recruiters will be looking for a resume that lists the applicant’s prior use or knowledge of the keyword skills and how they have previously used them. However do not add keywords into your resume if you are not capable at implementing them, there is no sense in landing a job but having no understanding of your general daily requirements, and the company will quickly be able to tell.
What do you think of these six common mistakes?
Do you have another common mistake applicants should be aware of?
Leave a comment down below and let the team at Hunting Hired know your thoughts.
