A resume is the first step for landing that big interview. Every employer and HR team looks at your resume first to see if you are a good candidate for the job. HR get so many resumes every day that if yours doesn’t look impressive enough, there is no chance that the recruiter will pick it up.
It doesn’t matter whether you are qualified, if you have sent a resume, it needs to be effective. It is like an audition that you have to nail before you get the first call back. A silly mistake like a grammatical error or making the resume too long, anything can get you rejected. A resume is your first impression, so make sure that you don’t look dumb or silly because of it.
Here are some silly mistakes that you should avoid in your resume:
- Spelling and grammatical mistakes
The silliest mistake on your resume is spelling and grammatical mistakes. These stand out and make you look careless. There are easy ways to correct spelling and grammatical issue. First is spell check- it will help you correct spelling mistakes. But you can’t rely on it too much as they might miss some errors. The second is to re-read the resume for any errors. Moreover, you can print the CV and proofread it as is the best way to find even the minute errors.
- Too many fonts and sloppy formatting
Using the right font and good formatting technique makes your resume stand out. But many people overuse fonts thinking it would make the resume creative. But it just makes you stand out in a bad way.
Here are some things that you should avoid:
- Don’t use big font it looks like you are shouting. Also, it makes it seem like you don’t have enough content to make a fulfilling resume.
- Don’t use small fonts as it will make the viewer squint for reading it.
- Never write a long paragraph because people scan the resume. They overlook the big paragraph and with it crucial information.
- Use bullet points and white space for efficient formatting.
- Use margins as it makes your resume neat.
- Don’t use weird fonts that have low readability. Many companies use electronic resume scanner and resume with weird fonts go to trash directly.
- Too short or too long
A resume should be one-two page long. Recent graduates/PG can limit their CV to one page. But for all others 1-2 page resume is ideal. So, don’t make it 3-4 pages long thinking it will enhance your chances. It should have important details about your recent jobs and not the full bio.
Also, if your resume is too short, add projects or activities that you undertook in school/colleges. It will fill up gradually as you keep stepping on the success ladder.
Note- There is an exception to the 1-2 page long resume like academics. They can have longer resume to fully explain their responsibility and HR loves them especially if they are talented.
- Lying on the resume
If you lie on your resume, it will definitely get caught. The employers and recruiters verify all the details you write, so there is no point in lying.
- Old contact information
One of the common mistake people do is not updating their contact information. If you forget to update your email or contact details, you will keep waiting for a call that will never come.
- Having a vague and copied objective
If you want to land your dream job, don’t use a vague or same objective for every resume you send out. Every job requires a tailor-made objective.
Also, you can skip the whole objective thing. Instead you can write a professional summary.
- Not using action verbs
When listing about the responsibilities at your old job use action verbs. Listing duties sound boring but using words like delivered, achieved, lead and so on sounds effective.
A resume is your first impression for the recruiter. A good CV with a great design, relevant information, and no errors will increase your chances of being picked from a pile of resume. If you are having trouble designing your resume, take help from Canva Resume maker too. It has various free elements that will help you design a professional CV.