Making a good resume is not easy. It takes a lot of time and effort to really get a strong curriculum together for your next application and usually, a lot of mistakes are being made. But, fortunately, a lot of these mistakes can be avoided if you pay good attention. Here is a list of the most common errors candidates make on their resumes. Are you making these mistakes on yours?
Typos
Believe it or not, but according to some surveys, more than half of resumes have typos. These can be simple typos or grammatical errors, but seriously, these are the most stupid mistakes you can have on your resume because they can actually be avoided. Employers see this as a lack of detail and that you don´t care about quality. So, you need to check your resume over and over again to make sure you catch all typos. And, no matter how often you proofread your resume, this might not cut it. Truly, sometimes it´s the candidate that checks their curriculum most carefully over and over again, that is most vulnerable to submitting an application with typos. Often the frequent proofreading results in finetuning one more time and those minor tweaks might not all match up. You can avoid this by having someone else proofread your resume as well before submitting your application.
Inaccuracy
Another common mistake is inaccuracy in the details on your resume. Therefore, always make sure that the facts on your curriculum are accurate. For example, if you mention specific dates for your studies, any other events that happened during your college years should coincide with these dates. Also, all information should be accurate, you can never ever tell lies on your resume. Although you might think they will never find out, at some point these lies can hunt you and really ruin your career. Therefore, always be honest on your applications and just don´t lie.
Length
A lot of candidates think that the longer their resume, the more interesting their profile because they can show how much experience they have. Of course, it is difficult to fit everything on one or even two pages, but the fact is, long resumes simply won´t get read by recruiters or hiring managers. They just don´t have time for that with the hundreds of applications they receive. You need to focus on the most important, the most relevant information to get them interested in your profile. Think about your resume as the tool to get you an interview. Once, you are in the process, you can tell all the other information. Therefore, keep it short and sweet.
Confidential information
Finally, never disclose any confidential information about previous jobs or employers on your resume. Once a recruiter or hiring manager sees any confidential information on your resume, you will probably have a red cross on your application already because if you can´t deal with confidential information at your previous employer, who says you will keep info confidential at your new job? That´s just simply too big of a risk for them. Also, it shows that you care more about your personal interests (showing off what important clients you worked with, for example) than your employer´s interests (keep important information confidential). Therefore, always check whether your resume is detailing anything confidential and if so, get that info off as soon as possible.
Do you usually check your resume for these kinds of mistakes? If not, you need to get started paying attention to the above topics to avoid making errors on your resume and increase your chances of being invited to an interview!
