The majority of jobseekers seem oblivious to simple résumé
basics. Résumés serve two purposes: (1) it is an ad highlighting what a job
candidate has to offer, and (2) it provides an interviewing guide for
employers. –That’s it! All other aspirations
amount to a figment of one’s imagination.
What employers want and
what jobseekers provide are oft-times at odds with one another. Employers will
conduct background checks: You would be amazed at what many attempt. Here
are a dozen classic missteps (résumé faux
pas) to avoid.
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What employers want:
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What employers receive:
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Readable résumés.
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Tiny typefaces are difficult to
read easily.
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Concise sentences.
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Strings of prepositional phrases
intermingled with superlatives that make little or no sense to anyone other
than the jobseeker.
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The position being sought with
clarity and brevity.
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Vague and over-generalized
verbiage expressing an interest in being able to perform practically
anything. (Yeah, right.)
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Clear responsibilities.
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Exaggerations and puffery abound.
(No surprise here.)
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Fewer bullets.
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Endless bullet points that intermingle
job responsibilities with accomplishments, forcing recipients to guess what
is important. (Not everything qualifies
as important—somethings are givens.)
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Reasonably accurate dates.
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40% fudge dates. Some even resort
to making up employment.
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Accurately stated degrees.
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Almost 30% outright lie. (This is an easy one to catch.)
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Accurate job titles.
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About 30% stretch the truth. Most
claim to be Consultants.
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Relevancy.
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60% throw in everything, hoping
something not relevant will stick. Others reminisce about their early glory
days.
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Relevant references.
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Friends and relatives with
different last names are common.
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Clean layouts.
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Busy-busy and razzle-dazzle layouts
that confuse the reader.
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Error-free material.
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Grammar, syntax and spelling errors
run rampant.
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Employers
also like to receive internet-friendly material. It is amazing the amount of
résumés that cannot be opened or require special software to access.
At
Confidential Résumé Writing, we make
a serious effort to avoid these classic errors. Most clients listen to our advice,
but not all. Some jobseekers only listen to the voices in their head.
Unfortunately, that goes part-and-parcel with today’s job-hunting reality.
Armed
with the most fabulous résumé on earth, there are a couple items no résumé writer
can camouflage. If an unchecked credit report says one thing and your résumé
claims something else, guess which version employers believe? —Not your résumé. Jobseekers have the
legal right to correct credit errors and inconsistencies, but less than 5%
actually perform this due diligent task.
Another
issue no résumé writer can correct involves inadequate preparation for
interviews. Though we provide detailed instructions, less than 10% exert the
time and effort needed. Oh-well, c’est la
vie.
Copyrighted © by
Robert James