The #1 Resume Mistake People Make

By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

There are many mistakes people make with their resume. This is the big one–the #1 mistake people make with their resumes.

Your Resume Is Like Your Clothes Closet

I’m Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter. I’m the head coach for JobSearch.Community. I’m a career and leadership coach who works with people throughout the United States and sometimes beyond to help them find work more quickly, be more successful in their searches, be more successful in their new firms. And I thought I would talk with you today about the biggest mistake I see people make with their resumes.

I don’t do recruiting anymore. I did it for more than 40 years. So, I’ve got the perspective from that and I see it reinforced time again now that I do coaching.

So, here’s what people do. They write one resume. One resume.

And they don’t think of their audience when they submit their resume. So, it’s okay to have that generic resume for use on job boards. But if you’re applying for a position, applying means that you’ve got an idea as to what this firm is looking for.

Maybe you’ve seen an ad and you’re applying. You’ve got to stop yourself right away and not just flip that resume to the firm like it’s a burger at a fast food restaurant. You’re just tossing that same resume over and over again because the result winds up being you’re not getting the results that you want.

It’s not working. You need to tailor your resume to demonstrate that you fit the job. So, what I’m going to encourage you to do is if you’re applying for a position, you need to stop yourself from just submitting the same generic resume to them and pause for a second and say, if an eight-year-old was reading this resume, could they see that I fit this job? And if they can’t, you’ve got to rewrite it by adding some things into it, maybe removing some others to call attention to your resume.

So, I’m going to pause for one second because I know some of you are going to say, I can just put it in the cover letter. No, you can’t. And the reason for that is if you put it in the cover letter or a cover email, people go to the resume and they look for some congruence with what you’ve written there.

And if they don’t see it, they think of this as being a minor part of your work and they’re considering it a major part of your responsibilities. You see the disconnect there? They want someone who really knows it. And if it’s not in the resume, they don’t believe you know it.

They think it’s like an adjunct. So, you’ve got to get it into the resume. It can be as simple as one or two sentences added in and maybe you take one or two sentences out.

This will help you get better results. Now, again, if you’re posting a resume on a job board, it should be a keyword rich, generic resume that really speaks to a lot. But if you’re applying for a job, you know what they’re looking for.

If you’ve been referred by someone, you know what they’re looking for. And you have to make damn sure that your resume shows that you fit. So, I hope you found this helpful.

If you’re interested in my coaching you, connect with me on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/TheBigGameHunter. Mention that you saw this. I’d love to help you.

And I just like the idea that I know that I’m helping. You’re telling me that this had an effect on you. And once we’re connected, you can message me that you’re interested in coaching.

Now, coaching takes a lot of different forms. It involves doing one-on-one work by video or phone. I prefer video to be able to work with one another.

It can involve doing critiques of your resume and or LinkedIn profile. It can involve preparing you for interviews and coaching you through the process. And that can be a standard interview or a case interview.

It can be helping you with a negotiation, preparing you for second. There’s a whole host of things that I do in order to help you get through the system effectively. So, have a great day.

Take care!

How Do You Find a Job When You Are Over 60?

ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER

People hire Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter to provide No BS Career Advice globally because he makes many things in peoples’ careers easier. Those things can involve job search, hiring more effectively, managing and leading better, career transition, as well as advice about resolving workplace issues. 

He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 3000 episodes. 

Over 60 and Job Hunting: 10 Ideas for You

You will find great info to help with your job search at my new site, ⁠⁠JobSearch.Community⁠⁠ Besides the video courses, books and guides, I answer questions from members daily about their job search. Leave job search questions and I will respond daily. Become an Insider+ member and you get everything you’d get as an Insider PLUS you can get me on Zoom calls to get questions answered. Become an Insider Premium member and we do individual and group coaching.

How Do You Find a Job When You Are Over 60?

Schedule a discovery call to speak with me about coaching you during your job search at ⁠www.TheBigGameHunter.us⁠ to discuss one-on-one or group coaching with me 

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/T⁠⁠heBigGameHunter⁠

⁠Resume & LinkedIn Profile critiques⁠ ⁠www.TheBigGameHunter.us/critiques⁠

Is It Possible to Find a Job When You Are Over 60

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