Three Reasons Why Your Resume Gets Lost in the Pile

In a competitive job market, a resume is often your only point of contact with an employer. An ineffective resume can eliminate your chances of moving forward in the hiring process, killing your job search instantly. Before you send your applications off to companies, make sure that you are not guilty of these common resume mistakes.

No Information Hierarchy

A common trait of an ineffective resume is a lack of information hierarchy, or a clear organization of sentences, headings and list items. It's common knowledge that resume reviewers don't spend much time on each resume during the early stages of hiring. The truth may be worse than you think; studies have shown that employers spend approximately six seconds looking over each resume. During that time, they are likely to check for the major education, experience and skill requirements for the open position. If your resume is not clearly organized with bold text, indentations, bullet points and section headers, it will be impossible for the reviewer to find the pertinent information. Chances are, your application will be passed over immediately.

To gauge the strength of your resume design, look at it without focusing on individual parts. The most important items should stand out immediately, either because they are bolder, larger or to the far left side of the page. If the text is cluttered, full of paragraphs or lacking in negative space, chances are you have an ineffective resume.

Typos and Bad Grammar

Professionals in all industries must be able to communicate effectively over email, in memos and in other written documents. Two hallmarks of an ineffective resume — not to mention a sloppy one — are typos and bad grammar. When competition is fierce and employers are looking for ways to narrow the candidate pool, even one typo can get your resume tossed onto the "reject" pile. Mistakes on your resume can indicate to the reviewer that you have a poor grasp of spelling and grammar or that you don't care enough about the position to spend time proofreading. Pass your resume to at least two people for editing before you send it off, even if you are an excellent writer. After hours of staring at the same page, it can be difficult to catch errors.

One-Size-Fits-All Content

During a long job search, it can be tempting to send identical resumes off to each company. Just as no two jobs are the same, no two resumes should be the same. HR managers, who often look at hundreds of resumes during each round of hiring, can spot boilerplate text a mile away. If your content sounds like every other applicant's, your ineffective resume will almost certainly get lost in the pile. Each resume you send should be tailored to the position and company. Use the correct industry jargon and adjust your keywords to match the job description. Select the accomplishments you mention based on the company's current needs; if they are looking for a PR manager after a recent public humiliation, you might highlight your experience with crisis management.

By spending time on your resume design and content, you can avoid common resume traps. A few hours of effort is all it takes to transform an ineffective resume into a powerful and persuasive job-seeking tool.

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