A resume is the first thing a potential employer will see, and it marks whether or not your resume will be thrown out or considered for possible employment. A good, focused resume is as important as the interview itself-going into the interview, the employer will already have a first impression of you that they have acquired from reading your resume. In this article, I’m going to show you a few key things that you should never do on a resume.
Do not include your “duties” or “responsibilities”. Employers don’t care who or what you were in charge of, they want to know WHAT you accomplished with those who’s or what’s. For example, turn “In charge of a team of 20 people”, into “Coordinated a team of 20 people which accomplished the following…” They want to know what you’ll contribute to the company – you’re not writing a job description.
Don’t put personal references on the resume, list and label them on a separate attachment, but never put specific people, phone numbers, or addresses on a resume. For example: if you worked at, let’s say, ITT Tech, you would put the company name, your position, and your accomplishments in that position. You would not put the address, the phone number, and you wouldn’t even include the state you worked the job in, leave specific details like that on an attachment.
Don’t use pre-formatted “word” templates. While these are typically OK to use, they simply don’t stand out as employers are likely to have seen the same template many times. Use a resume that stands out; use a professional style of writing and color scheme to make your resume unique.
Don’t forget a cover, and don’t use a bland and boring cover. The cover page is one of the most important parts of the resume, because not only does it include your contact information, it gives the employer a first-impression of you. If you have a boring cover page, the employer isn’t going to have as high an opinion about you when he or she actually read your requirements and experience.
Boring and over-used language is a huge mistake that people make when writing resumes. Phrases like “worked with” can be seen in almost any resume and are not very appealing to the employer. Be concise, but don’t be boring.
People don’t like big blocks of text. Try breaking up your resume into sections. Your resume will be much more appealing if you widen up the margins and separate out things a little more. Bolden the titled sections and italicize subtitles, a cramped block of text is not very easy on the eye.
