With the advancement of technology and social media, one of the most common ways to apply for a job is through the internet. Whether you’ve seen recruitment ads in the Bay Area and are thinking of working with an agency to find the perfect job, or you’re searching on job boards and applying yourself, your resume is the first thing part of your application that employers will look at. Because it’s one of the first elements of your application package, you want to do what you can to make sure it’s in good shape.
There are many mistakes that job seekers make regularly when submitting their applications. Keep reading to view our compiled list of common resume mistakes to avoid and increase your chances of finding the perfect job.
Grammar and Spelling Mistakes
It may seem obvious to avoid grammar and spelling errors, but many don’t dedicate the time to go through their resume and do a proper proofread. Mistakes like these can make employers think you’re not attentive to detail and aren’t very reliable, or that you didn’t care enough to take the time to go through your resume and submit the best quality. It’s best to spend the time editing your resume, and even hand it over to a friend or someone who’s good with English.
Not Tailoring it to the Job
Submitting a general resume for the different jobs you apply to may seem like a good idea at first. It saves you the time, effort, and energy of constantly rewriting your resume, and maybe you’ll be able to apply to a greater number of jobs. But from an employer’s perspective, when you submit a resume that’s not tailored specifically to their job posting, they won’t see how you’re a suitable fit for the position. You can apply to a bunch of jobs, but if your application isn’t relevant to the skills, experience, and requirements the hiring manager is looking for, they’re likely to skip over your resume.
It’s important to take the time to carefully read through the description, understand what skills and experience they’re looking for, and tailor your resume accordingly. You want to sell yourself to the company and show them why you’re the perfect fit, which can only be done with an application that’s specifically tailored to the position you’re interested in.
Making it Too Long
While you want to provide detail and don’t want to make your resume too short, you don’t want to make it too long, either. Employers receive so many applications from various people, and if you’re not making it easy for them to read yours, they could gloss it over. A multi-page resume can be overwhelming and filled with too many details. The goal is to make your resume informative, yet simple and easy enough to read. You want to provide as much value as possible without making it too overwhelming.
Making it Hard to Read
Another common mistake that people make is crafting a resume that’s difficult to read. You might want to squish all of the text together to create an application that isn’t too long and cut down the word count, but if it’s hard to read, employers might get tired and give up on trying to figure out your resume. They receive many applications, so if they receive any that are too exhausting to analyze, they might choose not to.
Visually, you want to make your resume as easy for employers to read as possible. This may involve leaving some blank space and creating different headings. There are recruitment advertising firms in the Bay Area that know how to craft resumes and application packages that are visually easy to navigate through, but detailed and thorough enough to provide the right information that employers are looking for.
Lying on Your Resume
Whether you call it lying or slightly over exaggerating on your skills and experiences, if you’re not being entirely honest and truthful about where you are in your career and your skills, it’s not a good idea to include that information on your resume. A resume is a stepping stone to an interview, and if or when employers find out you weren’t being entirely honest, they probably won’t be interested in moving forward in the hiring process.
Submitting an Outdated Resume
As you go through life and continue to grow, so should your resume. Your resume should always stay up to date with trends in the workplace and what employers are looking for, as well as your own individual skills and experiences. If it’s outdated employers will think you didn’t take the time to research and understand what they’re looking for, so you probably don’t care enough to take on the position. They also won’t get a good glimpse of who you are as an individual or what your current skills and experiences are, or where you’re headed. It’s important to make sure you submit the most recent, updated version of your resume, and continue to edit it as you go along.
You also don’t want to include any information that’s irrelevant. If you had a job working as a waitress a couple years back and now you’re applying for accounting firms, that’s not relevant experience. You want to add as much value to your resume as you can, and avoid unnecessary information that doesn’t help provide that value. Take the time to think about your skills and experience and decide which ones are relevant to the job posting, and which ones won’t help you land the job.
Consider searching for recruitment advertising agencies in the Bay Area, as many have the skills and experience to help you determine which information will help your resume and significantly increase your chances of landing the perfect job, and will help you craft your application package accordingly.
