10 Fatal Resume Mistakes That Will Kill Your Job Search
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
If you’re currently on the hunt for a job, your resume is your first and best opportunity to impress potential employers. However, making mistakes on your resume can quickly turn your job search into a nightmare
In this video, we’ll cover ten common mistakes that many job seekers make on their resumes, and how to avoid them.
Don’t let simple mistakes kill your job search! Watch htis video and take your first step toward landing your next job.
00:00 Intro
00:49 The first mistake
01:17 The second mistake
01:54 The third mistake
02:10 The fourth mistake
02:27 The fifth mistake
02:52 The sixth mistake
03:10 The seventh mistake
03:43 The eighth mistake
04:04 The ninth mistake
04:23 The tenth mistake
04:48 Summary
05:02 Outro
Resumes When You Have Little or No Experience
Don’t let your resume get tossed in the trash bin, deleted prematurely, not read. Watch this video to learn 10 Huge resume mistakes that hiring managers hate. I’m Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter. People hire me for no BS coaching and career advice because I make job hunting so much easier for people. I also help with other things as well. But today we’re going to talk about job search. And I’ll just simply say, having worked in recruiting for as many years as I have helping firms hire people, I want to talk with you about 10 fatal mistakes that make me and these people click away from your resume.
And the first thing is, using a generic resume that doesn’t target a specific job you’re applying for. Hiring managers want to see that you’re qualified for the position. They’re not going to read very much. And they want to see it quickly. And obviously, taking the time to tailor your resume for what matters to them is critical. If you don’t do it, they’re gonna hit the delete button.
Bad formatting. I saw a resume today that was awful. You know, too much bold, too many bullets, like 25 bullets on page one who needs to read that? They won’t. So I’ll simply say, making your resume hard to read– too small of a font, too many bullets, too much bolding, bolding, to the point where it kind of looks like a hostage to a letter. “We have your child and we’re going to . . . you know, these awful things. You don’t want your resume to look like that.
An unprofessional email address. Your email address should be simple, professional, you know what it could look like and how that can affect you. Hiring managers will not bother. They’ll think you’re immature.
Of course, lack of relevant work experience. If you don’t have the required experience, try to highlight transferable skills. Make the fit obvious to them so that a sixth grader could see that you’re qualified.
Another thing, and this is just laziness on your part– spelling and grammar errors. .Typos turn people off. Why? Because you’re on a word processor. All you have to do is run a spell checker and a grammar checker. And if there are particular terms that, if misspelled, are actual words, do a quick visual scan to make sure that you don’t have any spelling errors there.
A resume that’s too long. Do you think anyone’s going to read page three? It’s the antiquities. They don’t care about that. They really care about more recent work that relates to what matters to them. Make sure that it’s earlier in the resume rather than later.
Stupid Resume Mistakes: Showing Markups
Next, lack of keywords that fit the job description. You know, with applicant tracking systems, they want to see the exact phrase that’s in their job description, because their systems don’t recognize synonyms. Most of the time, every once in a while, someone programs the data dictionary to recognize a synonym. But most of the time they don’t. So you want to use the exact same terms when you’re tailoring your resume, as you’re seeing in the job description.
Lack of accomplishments or quantifiable results. Saying that you’re responsible for something doesn’t tell them what you got done. So make the point that having some metric that indicates money saved, money earned, percentage improvement over what previously existed.
Number nine– irrelevant information that doesn’t add any value to them. No one cares about your marital status, your age. Just stick with the work stuff. They don’t want to be accused of bias and you’re feeding into that possibility. Don’t do it.
Lastly, and I’ve indirectly mentioned this to you before–lack of attention to detail. Make sure that your resume is accurate and up to date. And that’s about dates, wages if you’re asked to provide them. Dates in particular are very important. And if you’re not sure, well, I’ll come to that another time.
So I’ll just simply conclude by saying by avoiding these fatal mistakes, you can increase your chances of getting interviewed and thus having a chance of being higher. Your resume is your first impression. Make it count.
Hope you found this helpful. I’m Jeff Altman. Again, my website is TheBigGameHunter.us. There’s a ton in the blog to help you. Plus, if you’re interested in my coaching you around job search, hiring more effectively managing and leading, workplace issues, career transitions, I’d be very happy to help. And if you’re interested in my coaching you first of all . . . let me back up. If you’d like me to answer a few of your questions, there’s a function there where you can schedule time for a trusted advisor call. I could help you that way. Just answering a few questions for a half hour or so. You get a recording afterward of our session.
The blog has a ton of great information there to help you. And lastly, connect with me on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/TheBigGameHunter Have a terrific day and most importantly, be great!
Stupid Resume Mistakes: Cool Resumes Suck
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years. He is hired to provide No BS Career Advice globally. That can involve job search, hiring staff, management, leadership, career transition and advice about resolving workplace issues.Schedule a discovery call at my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us
He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 2500 episodes.
Website: www.TheBigGameHunter.us (schedule a paid coaching session, a free discovery call or ask questions using my Trusted Adviser Services)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/TheBigGameHunter
Courses: www.TheBigGameHunter.us/courses
Main YouTube: www.JobSearchTV.com
No BS Job Search Advice Radio Podcast: anchor.fm/nobsjobsearchadviceradio
Video Podcast of No BS Job Search Advice Radio: Spotify
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jeffaltmancoach
Medium: jeffaltmancoach.medium.com
Resume & LinkedIn Profile critiques www.TheBigGameHunter.us/critiques
We grant permission for this post and others to be used on your website as long as a backlink is included to www.TheBigGameHunter.us and notice is provided that it is provided by Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter as an author or creator.
#jobsearchtv #resume #resumetips
