When You Respond to Job Listings, Watch Out for These Resume Traps

You have the skills, the experience, and the educational background that makes you perfect for an upcoming job listing. But you may be competing with hundreds or thousands of other applicants for the same position. You want your resume to stand out from the crowd by avoiding these common traps.

Sending the same resume for all jobs. This tells your potential employer that you don't care enough about working there to research specifics about the company. With inexpensive word-processing software readily available, there's no excuse for not tailoring each resume for the job you want.

Being general. Saying that you're a “hard worker,” “good with people,” or “quick learner” reveals nothing about you because they don't provide specific information. Talk about numbers, dates and tasks when describing your accomplishments. Examples include “increased sales by 25 percent over one year,” “added 30 new customers per week through cold calling by telephone” or “completed one-year training program in only six months.”

Not checking for grammar and spelling. A resume that are full of erors says that your careless. Would you want somebody who writes like that working for you? Run your resume through a spelling and grammar checker. And then have someone else look at it. A fresh pair of eyes can spot errors that you've missed several times.

Listing old jobs. You don't have to put down every job you've had since you graduated from high school 25 years ago. Employers are only interested in your current skills and knowledge, and only if this information is relevant to their needs. Stick to the past ten years but prepared to explain jobs previous to that in your interview.

If you want more help in finding jobs with your resume, please contact us.