The Worst Mistake You Can Make On Your Resume

Dark Knight · Sep 25, 2010

Fact: Job hunters obsess about resumes. Who wouldn't? There's so much to get right--functional versus chronological, objective statements (pro and con), key words, templates, references, font size, white space, action verbs, employment gaps, placement and style of bullets, typos, and whether to include hobbies (probably a "no" on that last one).

So much, in fact, that we often forget the most important ingredient of a really great, interview-obtaining, new-job-snagging resume: It needs to be written specifically for the job you're after.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/The-Worst-Mistake-You-Can-usnews-4243712187.html?x=0

tapu · Sep 25, 2010

Meh. Don't know that I agree. It's important that it isn't targeting some other specific job, of course. But as long as it lists experience and education that applies to the job being applied for, then it doesn't have to get tailored to one company.

A far bigger mistake, I feel, is to include spelling errors, typos, and other mistakes such as these that 1) make you look the opposite of conscientious and meticulous, and not all that concerned about getting a job, really; and 2) you could have fixed so easily with a little effort toward proofreading (your own and/or another's--and I strongly recommend the "and another's" there).

When we see a spelling error in a resume, we put it directly in recycling. It's the "first cut" in my office.

panthera · Sep 26, 2010

tapu said:
Meh. Don't know that I agree. It's important that it isn't targeting some other specific job, of course. But as long as it lists experience and education that applies to the job being applied for, then it doesn't have to get tailored to one company.

A far bigger mistake, I feel, is to include spelling errors, typos, and other mistakes such as these that 1) make you look the opposite of conscientious and meticulous, and not all that concerned about getting a job, really; and 2) you could have fixed so easily with a little effort toward proofreading (your own and/or another's--and I strongly recommend the "and another's" there).

When we see a spelling error in a resume, we put it directly in recycling. It's the "first cut" in my office.

I agree. There is no reason for a computer generated (i.e. MS Word) resume to include spelling errors. Another thing that is checked where I work is sloppy handwriting on the application itself.

Charlie09 · Sep 26, 2010

I never looked at the cover letter in detail - just enough to see what job they were applying for. (I was recruiting for up to 20 positions at a time.)
If I couldn't tell from the resume what job they were applying for - I wasn't terribly interested in them.

My second "test" was how long it took them to fill out the application - if it took longer than 10 minutes....NEXT!

The Worst Mistake You Can Make On Your Resume

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Dark Knight

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