Common Resume Mistakes

Hi KayeBaes, as you may know I offer resume and cover letter revamping services and I have seen my fair share of resumes over the years and almost all of them have one or all these mistakes.  A resume is your chance to make a first impression and if you don’t take advantage of this opportunity you may not be given a chance to make that impression again. So, let’s deep dive into exactly what these mistakes are and how not to make them going forward!

Mistake #1: Too Many Bullet Points

Often times, we find ourselves having information overload on our resumes because we want to alert possible employers of all the amazing tasks we completed while in our last or current positions that it’s entirely too much for them to read. My rule of thumb is 3 bullet points, no more no less. Condense your resume to your top tasks that you wouldn’t want to be left out under any circumstances. If for any reason you cannot condense into three bullet points, there is always the option to provide a brief synopsis of the position in paragraph form and then list your 3 major accomplishment in bullet form under the synopsis.

Mistake #2: Too Many Pages

If your resume is more than one page that is perfectly fine if the second page is a continuation of previous work experience. If the second page is full of volunteer activity, references, skills, or achievements its time to throw that 2nd page away. That’s what your LinkedIn page is for to hold everything that your resume cannot. If the 2nd page is full of work experience that spills over to a 3rd page I advise condensing the work experience. Your resume should never be more than 2 pages maximum.

Mistake #3: Poor Formatting

When formatting your resume, it needs to display consistency throughout the whole document.

1.      All dates should be the same (i.e. November 2006-June 2010 or 11/2016-06/2010)

2.      The same amount of bullet points under each job description

3.      Same font and size throughout the document for the body and the same font and size for all headers

4.      Make sure all tenses are correct; if it is your present role use present tense and past roles use past tense

No matter how great your work history is for the position you are applying for, recruiters are receiving hundreds of resumes a day so they will use anything to weed out the competition and formatting is one of the main reason’s candidates are declined.