sIt is not uncommon among job-seekers to make little mistakes that can make even The Grinch flinch, even at the thought. A clumsy move as you trip over when you reach to shake hands with the potential boss; you can’t put a name to the face of an interviewer so you give it a shot – apparently a misfired one, when you realize it’s the wrong name; or you suddenly become aware that you put the wrong telephone number to a résumé, just as you hit the “Send” button. We have all done it…

These résumé funnies…or not so funnies if this has happened to you, can precipitate more than just a few winces; they can be fatal to your chances of making it to coveted jobs – jobs that you know you are highly qualified for.

It is now 2010 and another year has already seen its first month fly by. Everyone’s making some sort of a move to make life better. And so now comes the time to write a resume. Perhaps you’ve given it your best shot but more often than not, you either can’t find the right words to write a brief and concise version of your career or you just have the knack for working your way to an enormous blunder (or a few ones, for that matter).

Here’s one example of an unforgettable résumé that I was asked to critique several years ago from someone who recently got out of college. Understandably, this person didn’t have much experience, so he presented a list of his skills in bulleted form that looked like this:

• Strong Work Ethic

• Attention to Detail

• Team Player

• Self Motivated

• Attention to Detail

Did you catch that one? The poor guy apparently tried to live up to his listed skills and put too much ‘attention to detail’ there. As expected, that person was shocked to see that I highlighted the fact that there was double listing for “attention to detail”. Let alone – THOSE are his skills? That is it? They are lacking in the ingenuity department!

When you hear stories like this, you might think, “Not me. I would never.” Sure. You would go through the résumé a gazillion times. You would use the spell check or even call a friend to proofread it for you. The big question is: Why does everybody (alright, so maybe YOU don’t) commit those slapdash blunders on a very significant document such as a résumé?

Some experts think it’s nerves, more than anything else. The back-breaking stress of job search can take its toll and people tend to get anxious before sending out the resume.
And so there’s a general tendency for job seekers to get edgy, hit the “Enter” button, only to realize right after (or maybe NOT) that only the cover letter was sent without the resume attachment. In a lot of cases applicants forget to include the job code, making it difficult for the recruiter to identify which job is being applied for. A lot of résumés similar to these get chucked all the time.

Some of the blunders job seekers make are not so obvious. Résumés that are too ambiguous, even nebulous or written like a prose just don’t make the cut. Some résumés get too long winded or too exhaustive about previous jobs that have no bearing to the one they are applying for.

The trick is mainly to take your time and really think hard about your accomplishments. If there’s not much experience you can put on your résumé, consider your goals, instead and put them into writing. Questions like, “What am I really good at?” “What have I accomplished?” – these are the questions that if answered, can turn out to produce a most winning, most compelling, most relevant information for the employer. Always play by this rule… If you don’t think that ‘piece’ of info will be the bit that gets you the job… leave it out.

Tags: accomplishments on a resume, how to fix my resume, Job Search, resume mistakes, Resume problems, resumes

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 at 4:22 am and is filed under Applying for a Job, Free Advice, Humor, Resume Do's and Don'ts, Resume Help. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.