Top 5 Resume Mistakes Job Seekers Make

In today’s competitive job market, having a standard resume is crucial. This is because your resume could determine whether you get that dream job. However, a mistake that you might overlook could spoil your chances of working at your dream job. Therefore, it is important to avoid these mistakes at all costs.

In this post, we share the top five mistakes job seekers make in their resumes. These mistakes are:

  • Misspellings and grammatical errors
  • Using wrong or irrelevant keywords
  • Including irrelevant information
  • Writing positions that fail to show what you’ve accomplished
  • Terrible design and/or format

1. Misspellings and Grammatical Errors

The first mistake you could make is having misspelled words in your resume and/or grammatical errors. Identifying your error may be hard. As a result, it is important to let a proofreader go through your resume to enable you to identify errors you otherwise wouldn’t have noticed. Remember that first impressions matter; you don’t want a potential hiring company to think that you lack attention to detail. So, avoid any form of error in your resume.

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2. Using Wrong or Irrelevant Keywords

For a company hiring; chances are that you are not the only one whose resume is being reviewed. Hence, it is not uncommon for hiring managers to want to skim through the resumes while identifying certain keywords. Now, if you don’t have the necessary keywords on your resume then, there’s a probability that your resume won’t even be noticed. This is the last thing you’d want to happen especially if you are applying to your dream job!

3. Including Irrelevant Information

Another mistake you could make is including information that is irrelevant or obsolete thereby making your resume unnecessarily long. It is ideal to keep your resume short and straight forward while positioning yourself as an industry leader. Try your best to keep your resume within one or two pages. Remember, you aren’t the only one applying for the job. 

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4. Writing Positions that Fail to Show What You’ve Accomplished

When you add past positions to your resume, one of the things a recruiter wants to see is what you have been able to accomplish while occupying such a position. Here, job descriptions and a list of your duties aren’t enough. You need statements that portray your accomplishments and the value you were able to provide while in that position. 

5. Terrible Design/Format

When it comes to resume design, less is more. It is ideal to have a simple and clean resume that makes it easier for the reader to skim through the information. However, when you have a cluttered resume with some terrible designs all over the place, chances are that your resume might end up being discarded. Therefore, it is important to ensure that your resume is easy to read and understand. 

A single mistake could spoil your chances of working at your dream job. Therefore, you must avoid these mistakes at all costs. When you feel your resume has been perfected, make it a duty to give it to an expert who can go through it and point out your mistakes when necessary. If you need any help with your resume, feel free to contact us at Global Career Advisors.

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