Common Resume Mistakes

Typos & Grammatical Errors

Probably the most obvious of all resume writing tips: It needs to be grammatically perfect. It seems almost too easy, but these errors can really reduce your prospects with a hiring manager. You know how to spell just fine, but you’ve stared at your resume for so many hours and know it front to back, so it’s easy to miss a spelling typo or grammatical error. You’re not a professional resume writer; the easiest way to combat simple errors is to have someone else give your resume the once-over by proofreading it again for you. Keep in mind the resume is one of your most important financial documents.

Lack of Specifics

You need to put real, quantitative tasks and accomplishments on your professional resume. It’s one thing to put descriptions about your former positions on your resume, but you need to be specific when detailing what you accomplished.

Vague job descriptions simply sound like you cut and pasted from a job listing. Think like a resume specialist, put content in terms of what you accomplished and how. It will sound better than simply listing just your title and everyday tasks.

Attempting One Size Fits All

Employers want you to write a resume specifically for them. But, you’re not a professional resume service. It is not feasible or practical to pay someone to write a new resume for each job you seek. Group your experience with job descriptions you are applying for. For example, for a customer service resume, group that experience and align to jobs you will be applying for.

If you’re not willing to read the job descriptions and tailor your resume for those jobs, they may think you don’t care enough about the job, they may think you aren’t qualified, and they won’t think it’s worth their time to meet with you. Hiring managers expect you to clearly show how and why you fit the position.

Going on too long or cutting things too short

There are no real rules governing resume length because people who will be reading it have different preferences and expectations where resumes are concerned. Note: as a professional resume writing service, we know that often times the first review (filtering) of a resume is done by a computer system. The more keywords in your resume the better chance you have of passing through computer systems and having a human reviewing your resume. It is all a balance to acceptable norms. As certified professional resume writers, we help clients navigation the proper optimization of content that is keyword-rich as well as being easily scan able by humans to ensure our clients get interviews.

That doesn’t mean you should start sending out five-page resumes, of course. In general, you usually need to limit yourself to a maximum of two pages. But don’t feel you have to use two pages if one will do. Conversely, don’t cut the meat out of your resume simply to make it conform to an arbitrary one-page standard. There are several things to consider. It is not a one size fits all. Each client is unique. As a professional resume service, having reviewed tens of thousands of resumes, we can quickly make an appropriate recommendation upon reviewing you resume or information.

Bad summary

Employers do read your summary section. This is your headline! Give employers something specific and, more importantly, something that focuses on their needs as well as your own. As a resume writing service, we think of it as what you can do for the employer.

But wait, you’re not done yet! Now that you’ve made sure your resume is error-free, get another pair of eyes (we recommend asking a resume service) to double-check it and review for you. Let’s be clear, crafting a resume is not an easy job. Creating an error-free resume is almost impossible. Sometimes, in resume writing, you just need a reminder of what’s important to add to it or leave out.