Improve your hiring chances by giving recruiters what they want to see on your resume.
When recruiters or hiring managers pick up your resume, the next five to 10 seconds mean everything. Typically, they take only six seconds to scan your resume, review your information, and decide if you’ll move on in the hiring process. So you need to make sure you don’t have any glaring mistakes that could cause them to push your resume to the side.
Based on a recent TopResume survey of recruiters and hiring managers, there are 10 specific errors that drive recruiters crazy and will quickly send your resume to the no-interest pile. To pass that six-second scan and remain a viable job candidate, avoid these 10 mistakes at all costs.
1.Bad Spelling and Grammar
These types of errors were No. 1 on the list of deal-breakers from recruiters in the survey, yet they’re so easy to prevent.
Since most of us aren’t experts in this area, sites like Grammarly can be a life-saver. This free tool scans your resume for context and other mistakes that spell check can miss. Other double-check options include reading your content out loud or having someone else review it for you.
2. Missing or Wrong Contact Information
When recruiters like your resume, they’ll want to contact you. Seems like a no-brainer, right? However, if your email or phone number are wrong — or worse, missing — how can they reach you?
This kind of mistake also points out your lack of attention to important details. A recruiter might think that if you don’t do this on your resume, you may not do it on the job. You’ll score points if you make the recruiter’s job easier.
Finally, if you’re submitting your resume electronically, don’t create your contact information as an image or put it in the header area. The applicant tracking systems (ATS) used by many companies can’t read the information in these formats. So, it will just show it as missing. Even when you included it initially.
3. An Unprofessional Email Address
Presenting yourself as a professional, skilled candidate starts with a business-like email address. This should include your name in full or abbreviated form. If you can’t let go of that cute email address, then set up another one to use for the job hunt. Gmail is considered the best free email service and is easy to set up.
4. Including Old or Non-required Information
There are two aspects to this mistake:
1.) The first is including unnecessary details like hobbies, marital status, or age on your resume. This indicates that you don’t know how to create a 21st century resume. This could eliminate you from the candidate pool due to age or other discrimination.
2.) The second is listing outdated or irrelevant work experience. Again, this can give away that you’re an older candidate which, unfortunately, can lead to age discrimination. Rather than including every job and volunteer role you’ve ever had, pick and choose the experiences, accomplishments, skills, and roles that are relevant to the position for which you’re applying.
5. Failure to Show Accomplishments and Quantified Results
Putting down more responsibilities than accomplishments is a big resume “don’t” for recruiters. They want to see the results you achieved in your past roles to determine your potential future success. Not just what you did on a day-to-day basis.
Accomplishments are quantifiable results such as ROI, improved sales numbers, and business growth dollars. These metrics let recruiters compare you with other candidates using concrete data. Rather than assumptions and show that you took initiative to achieve results.
6. Keyword Stuffing and Annoying Buzzwords
Keywords are important and necessary to get past the ATS — but you should always use them effectively and with a natural word flow. Once your information is past the bots, a human recruiter can easily tell if you’ve deliberately stuffed your resume with keywords or used annoying jargon or buzzwords, leading to your probable rejection.
Sweep your resume for this “buzzwordy” jargon and replace these nonsensical phrases with clearly articulated ones that show what you did and how you did it.
7. Not Customizing the Resume to the Job Listing
In other words, create a tailored resume for each job application using keywords (in moderation) from the job description. A “cookie-cutter” resume won’t get through an ATS scan or past a recruiter’s trained eye.
Your resume should clearly convey why you are a good fit for the specific role instead of being a “one size fits all” document.
8. Using Repetitive Words or Phrases
When recruiters repeatedly see the same words or phrases on your resume, it appears to them that you were too lazy to vary the action words or other phrases to specifically match the open position. It’s another way they spot that cookie-cutter resume and reject it almost immediately.
9. Including a Headshot
In the U.S, it’s not common practice to include a headshot with your resume, unless you’re applying for an international job or a role in the performing arts.
Adding a headshot for a basic job application can be seen as egotistical or make a recruiter think that you don’t know (or don’t care about using) the most up-to-date resume formats. Don’t include a headshot unless you’re specifically asked to include it.
10. Using an Over-elaborate Resume Format/design
Experts agree that your resume format is just as important as the content, and generally, less is more. A clean, consistent resume format lets the recruiter quickly and easily skim through your information in that six-second window. The harder it is for them to find your qualifications and experience, the more likely you’ll be skipped over as an applicant — even if you’re the best one for the job.
Additional Resume Mistakes to Avoid
Along with the top 10 errors, here are three more key things that recruiters don’t like to see in a resume. Be sure to correct these on your next resume update.
Dense Text Blocks and Too Many Bullets
Another type of bad formatting, these errors make it harder for a recruiter to scan your information.
Amanda Augustine, TopResume’s career advice expert, specifically warns about this: “Let’s be honest: You’re looking this over quickly, you’re glancing through it. Your eyes glaze over when you get to a big, long paragraph,” she says.
Use bullet points with a mix of short text blocks to highlight your relevant qualifications, contributions, and achievements, with the most relevant and impressive bullets coming first.
A Resume Longer Than Two Pages
How long is a good resume? One to two pages, based on your experience level, is generally best.
If you have a lot of relevant experience, recruiters would rather read two well-organized pages full of extremely relevant and helpful information than one page that’s difficult to read and crammed with information at a small font point. But if you don’t need the second page, don’t try to add on unnecessary information. Figure out the most relevant aspects of your work history and skills, and then craft either the perfect one or two-page resume.
Writing an “Objective Statement”
An objective statement is no longer necessary on your resume. Instead, use a “Key Skills” section to highlight the top five to nine skills that relate to the job you want. Also, include a professional summary just below your name that provides an “elevator pitch” of how you can benefit the company in this role.
Even if you’re a qualified candidate, resume mistakes send recruiters the message that you didn’t care enough to do your very best and make an amazing first impression. Don’t let these avoidable errors keep you from beating the competition and landing the job that you really want.
About the Author: Lisa Tynan is a regular contributor to TopResume, the largest resume-writing service in the world. TopResume offers a range of resume-writing services including expertly written and keyword-optimized resumes, cover letters, and LinkedIn profiles. Submit your resume for a free, objective review today to make sure recruiters won’t send your resume to the trash pile.
