By Kevin Donlin
As a professional resume writer with 12 years of writing experience, I see the same mistakes over and over in the dozens of resumes I read each week.
Here are five of the most common -- and damaging -- resume mistakes. Learn to recognize and avoid them!
Mistake #1: Focusing on you and your needs.
Employers would rather run their business than read your resume. So, yours must quickly answer the question on every employer's mind: "What can you do for me?"
Unfortunately, most resumes don't.
Most resumes start out like this: "Seeking a challenging position with potential for career advancement ..." And so on.
Instead, talk about how you can add value to operations, increase efficiency, etc. Let's revise that opening like this:
OBJECTIVE
Position where 10 years of sales, marketing and management experience will
add to profitability.
Mistake #2: Focusing on duties instead of results.
While it's important to describe what you've done at each job, your resume should emphasize how you've made yourself valuable to past employers.
Think back ... what good things happened when you did your job well? Write them down, as specifically as possible!
Instead of saying this: "Responsibilities included (but were not limited to) implementation of policies and procedures ..."
Say this: "Helped increase product turnover by 20% and sales by 13% in five months. Trained 14 new employees, five of whom were rapidly promoted."
Mistake #3: Too many big words.
Don't aim to impress with your vocabulary -- aim to inform.
Force yourself to simplify by reading your resume aloud. If you can't finish a sentence without gasping for air, split it in two. And replace words that don't roll off your tongue with shorter ones.
Mistake #4: Spelling and grammatical errors.
Proofread your resume three times: once for accuracy (numbers, dates, city names, etc.), once for missing or extra words, and once more for spelling. Then read it BACKWARDS to look for weird spacing or punctuation.
Mistake #5: Formatting gaffes. Avoid the following:
Follow these guidelines and you'll avoid the common resume mistakes that can sidetrack your career. When in doubt, run your resume by at least three friends for their input.
Best of luck to you!
-- Kevin Donlin is Managing Editor of 1 Day Resumes. The 1DR writers provide same-day, one-on-one resume writing assistance. He is also author of "Resume and Cover Letter Secrets Revealed," a do-it-yourself manual that will help you find a job in 30 days ... or your money back. For more information, please visit http://www.collegerecruiter.com/guaranteed-resumes.php
