Common Resume Mistakes To Avoid

Common Resume Mistakes To Avoid Common resume mistakes to avoid You may be the perfect fit for a jobbut a hiring manager is never going to find that out if he trashes your resume after a mere glance that revealssome common resume mistakes. Even in this age of online professional networking, a great resume is still the foundation of a successful job search.Its common knowledge that spelling errors and grammatical bloopersare trash triggers (and these simple mistakes top many recruiters lists of resume pet peeves). But is there anything else that job seekers are unwittingly doing wrong? We asked some recruiting managers and career experts about the resume errors that cause them to crumple and toss a resume at first lookand some of their answers may surprise you.1. Your resume is poorly formattedLooks matter, even on your resume. Career expert Abby Kohut lists misaligned indentations and ersatzdarsteller spaces as a couple of the things that make a resume start to look like it belongs i n the garbage. The fix? Use tabs for indents, and search your document for stray double spaces.Also beware of being too creative. I dont like it when I receive resumes with funky fonts, says Mona Abdel-Halim, co-founder of the Web-based resume tool Resunate, who echoed other experts we spoke to. It is not professional and it makes the resume harder to read. When choosing resume fonts, opt ones that are widely used and readable, such as Calibri or Arial, and use no more than two fonts with their associated bold and italic styles.2. Your resume is immatureOther hiring managers we talked to said they had immediately trashed resumes with pictures on themfor example, of cartoon character Bart Simpson (in the case of one applicant for a technical writing job) or of a kitten (an applicant for a customer service job). Cute resume additions like these are for kidsnot professionals.3. You didnt bother tocustomize your resumeJessica Campbell, an HR manager for talent agency Voices.com, says on e of her pet peeves is when a candidate has used a template resume, but hasnt updated it before sending it. (And if you use Words track changes feature to edit your resume, make koranvers to accept all changes in the final version before submitting it.)To prevent your resume from ending up in the trash for this reason, customize your resumefor each job you apply for using the language of the job ad and highlighting your most relevant experience.When the resume is not tailored to the position, it shows you dont really understand what the employer is looking for and are just hoping your resume fits some of the criteria, says career expert Heather Huhman, author of Lies, Damned Lies Internships The Truth About Getting from Classroom to Cubicle. To avoid this mistake, show the employer how you fit those criteria through your previous experience, skills and expertise.4. Your resume is sneakyKohut says she immediately distrusts people whose resumes have no dates on them. Employment gaps are not a problem, she says. The problem is when you try to be deceptive.David S. Williams, founder and CEO of salary consultancy SpringRaise, agrees, saying that if you are or have been unemployed, dont try to hide it. You may be doing yourself a disservice because you may be a strong candidate for a position, but you tried to hide your current status, he says.A better tactic is to be straightforward on your resume, and then use your titel letter to tell the story of your careers progressincluding information about how you maximized your time away from the 9-to-5 routine. And do remember to write a cover letternot doing so is another guaranteed way to get your resume thrown into the trash, according to the experts.5. You didnt get it reviewedYou may trust yourself to cover all your resumes basesbut dont. No matter how great you think your resume looks, another person needs to look it over and give you honest feedback. Need help with that? Get a free resume evaluation today from the experts atMonsters Resume Writing Service. Youll get detailed feedback in two business days, including a review ofyour resumes appearance and content, and a prediction of a recruiters first impression. Its a quick and easy way to spare yourself the embarrassment of a half-baked resume.