No-Gos on The Resume: What To Remove
The perfect resume is a balance between being creative and professional. The key to getting past an automated sorting system, as well as human reviewers with your words can be difficult but not impossible if you avoid certain pitfalls. The modern resume has been crafted the same way for decades, and while it follows a certain formula and structure that you should follow, certain phrases and keywords can put your resume directly into the discard pile.
When creating your resume, you want to make yourself sound like the perfect candidate for the job. A recruiter spends on average 30 seconds or less reviewing resumes, so any misstep or discrepancy can immediately disqualify you from getting an interview. If you’re looking to create your first resume, or update your current resume, here’s what you need to avoid:
Too Much Text
When creating a resume, you have to be able to properly describe each position you’ve held, without going overboard. As mentioned earlier, you only have 30 seconds to impress a recruiter enough to put you in the “interview” pile, so including a full breakdown of each of your previous positions should be avoided. Instead of long, heavy paragraphs, consider using bullet points to condense and simplify the key portions of your last job. This allows recruiters to pinpoint the right information and make a more informed hiring decision.
Grammatical Errors
Having even one grammatical error or spelling mistake on your resume can immediately disqualify you from securing an interview. Before submitting your resume, scan in twice more to ensure everything reads properly, makes sense, isn’t spelt wrong, and has no grammatical errors in sight. We strongly recommend having someone proofread it as well before sending it off.
Irrelevant Experience
When listing your previous experience, it should be relevant to the job you’re applying for now. This allows recruiters to properly evaluate your qualifications for the position. Positions that have no matching qualifications should be left off, as they’re more than likely to work against you when the recruiter is trying to pinpoint your top skills for the job.
Too Many Hobbies
With a larger and larger emphasis on work life balance, many employers enjoy seeing what your hobbies and interests entail, however there are distinct rules when incorporating your homes in your resume. For one, avoid putting too many hobbies or details about said hobbies. Your resume is very limited in space, so discussing at length what you like to do outside of work only eats away at your potential real estate for listing the important details of your employment history. Rather than a hobbies portion on your resume, we suggest including a list of hard skills that are applicable to the position.
When creating your resume, don’t fret. As long as you follow the right formula and avoid these common mistakes, your resume will stand out significantly more to recruiters. Once your resume is ready, contact GL Staffing. Our team is ready to assist in placing you in the right position based on your skills.
