You will never have a second chance to make a first impression, so your resume should meet all the requirements of the employer. However, it is almost impossible to write a perfect CV on the first try and you can miss some great opportunities just because you didn’t pay enough attention to your grammar or formatting. Here is a list of most common mistakes, which should be avoided in order to provide a catchy and correct CV, which everyone will admire. Poor Spelling What is your first thought when you notice misspelling? Do you have a desire to stop reading immediately? If the answer is yes, you are not alone. Employers pay careful attention not only to your skills and experience but also to the presentation itself. Therefore, when you fail to spell your college or company name properly, you may be considered an absent-minded person, not able to spend some time on going through the text. Grammar Mistakes As well as poor spelling, grammar mistakes will never do you good and you need to consult a dictionary every time you feel like you are not confident how to write a certain word. Don’t entrust your resume to a software, because there may be specific words, which it doesn’t know. Pay attention to every world and passage in order to avoid mistakes. You should sound professional and assure the employer that you are able to pay attention to details. Avoid Lying Every person wants to make his or her resume as bright as possible. That is why they often ascribe themselves mastering a foreign language or computer skills they do not possess. But this may play a bad joke with them, because such information can be easily checked and you will never have a chance to be hired by this company. Try to avoid false information. Even if you want to embellish your skills and achievements, stick to the truth and your real experience. Even if it is not as vivid as you want it to be. ‘References upon Request’ Once this phrase was present in every resume and became a cliché, which distinguished a modern employee from the one, who had stuck in the past. If you find any reference letter important, include it to your resume. Otherwise, don’t mention it at all. Employers understand that you have references and will ask you to provide them if needed. Don’t overload your CV with unnecessary information. Stick to the Format Make sure that your CV is not more than two pages long and it doesn’t bore the reader. Imagine how many resumes the employer has to read every day! He will pay attention only to the key points, so make sure that your CV is precise and up-to-the-point. Stick to the main formatting rules according to the required format in the industry. For example, if you are applying for a creative job, you can add various color schemes or images. Make it Personalized We are living in the times, when almost everyone has pages on various job-seeking websites and employers can get a direct access to them. However, most employees decide to save some time and simply copy their personal description from Facebook or LinkedIn. Such resumes will most likely be forgotten, as employers prefer working with those, who took at least some time to adjust the CV to the company’s demands and requirements. If you really like the position, give yourself some time to change the resume to fit for the particular job offer. Avoid Listing There is nothing wrong in providing a list of your skills or duties in previous companies. However, it is more important to describe the impact these skills or duties had on the company’s success and revenues. Describe your accomplishments and how your experience helped to solve a particular situation. A Winning Executive Summary While many potential employees find this paragraph unnecessary, most employers pay extra attention to it, because it reveals your ability to summarize the key facts. You need to make this summary not only meaningful but also catchy and intriguing. Make a hiring manager want to learn more about you and what you can offer. Bullet Points are Important! Every employer wants to get ostensive information on your skills, achievements and previous work experience. For such purposes bullet points can be a great solution and you should pay careful attention to their proper formatting. A huge mistake is to provide a huge summary without paying attention to the details. Who needs a long intro if the main part is absent? Make sure that you use bullet points to describe your main responsibilities and achievements in the company. You no longer need to learn from your mistakes, spending time and nerves on correcting them over and over again. Just learn from those, who have already completed this path and obtain a unique opportunity to find a dream job with minimum efforts! |
| Brandon Grondwrint, a contributor at an educational website resumesarea.com for graduates and specialists, who are willing to chance their specialization and to find the job of their dreams. |
