Hiring agents sort through tons of applications and resume files each year, and there are a handful of great tips that they have shared about their experience. Here are five ways in which you can ruin your resume, as well as you chances of acquiring the job.
1. Apply for jobs you are unqualified for. It is tough enough that the competition is tough and job openings tend to bring in lots of qualified applicants, but when you run across ones that are so out of place and have no business being in the pile to be considered, it can be really irritating. Past practices were promoted that said you should just send a bunch of your resume’s out to all kind of jobs, in hope of landing one. This is not a good idea, and it not only wastes your time and resources, but also wastes the time and frustrates the hiring agents. If you have skills and experience that is related, be sure to lay out your resume to highlight that specifically, even if it is less than your greater skills and experience.
2. Make your “mission statement” all about you. In days past, a resume mission state was a brief explanation of your desires in a new job. Newer practices show this trend to be outdated, and the mission statement is now to be more of an objectives statement, and should be geared around the company’s need. It should highlight your skills and what you bring to the company that will improve their needs.
3. Don’t include a cover letter with your resume. Even if you are just handing copies of your resume out to close associates, be sure it includes a special cover letter applicable to the job in particular. One things you should avoid – making and distributing generic carbon-copy copies of your resume and cover letter. Each cover letter should be specifically addressed to someone at the company being applied to, and relating specifically to their needs and your skills that meet those needs. Likewise the resume, while it might maintain some continuity from position to position, could still be tweaked to focus more on the needs of the job in question.
4. Ignore punctuation, typos, and details. Hiring agents have reported passing over and disposing of applications that had typos or other issues. Ignoring the details can cost you the job, depending on the field you work in. It is important that you catch these things. Read and re-read your materials; have a friend read and re-read them too. Do not simply reply on spell check since it does not always catch proper grammar and misspellings that are spelled correctly.
With the amount of people looking for jobs far outweighing the amount of jobs, all of the “little things” need to be considered and improved upon in order to compete. Do not let these types of things disqualify you, but focus on the goal and work to get all things in line to reach that goal.
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