Resume Mistakes That May Cost You the Job

Those of you on the market, please heed these warnings!

Failing to customize the resume to the open position may cost you: In today’s tough job market, every resume should be crafted in response to the requested experience and responsibilities listed in the job description.  If your resume is off target, it will quickly be put aside.

Focusing on responsibilities rather than results may cost you: Employers don’t care about what you did, they want to know how what you did positively impacted the bottom line.  Using any performance statistics you can come up with, your resume should be able to answer the question “why were your previous organizations better off because you worked there?”

Wasting space with objectives, notations about resumes, and too much personal information may cost you: An ultra-specific objective will pigeonhole you into a particular position when the hiring manager might well consider you for another opening based on your credentials.  Adding too much information about your volunteer work and hobbies looks amateurish, as does saying that “references are available upon request.”  Believe me, if they want references, they’ll ask for them.

Sending the resume off without having someone else proof it may cost you: No matter how many times you’ve read over your resume for spelling, grammar, and formatting, you may miss things simply because you are too close to the document.  Get a second opinion before getting ousted from consideration because of a minor typo.

Alexandra Levit is a globally recognized workplace author and speaker. A nationally syndicated columnist, Alexandra has published several books, including They Don’t Teach Corporate in College, How’d You Score That Gig?, Success for Hire, MillennialTweet, New Job, New You, and Blind Spots. Levit has advised the Obama administration, regularly speaks nationwide at conferences, universities, and corporations on workforce issues, and was recently named Money Magazine’s Online Career Expert of the Year.  Learn more at AlexandraLevit.com.