Top 14 Items Guaranteed to Kill Your Resume

One would think that writing a resume would be to simply “tell them everything”, but it is much more complex than this.  Millions of resumes pass through recruiters’ and employers’ hands each year that are set aside and passed over due to poor resume presentation.  Therefore, it is crucial that we know what recruiters’ and employers’ view as being the “death sentence” of a resume.  After conducting numerous surveys, we’ve done the work for you!

 

1. Vague or Poorly Written Objective: 
   1. Be specific when you can.  If the job you’re applying to says “Staff Accountant, Level II – Cost Division”, then ensure that your objective states the same.  In this case, a qualified accounting professional that applies for the position stating “Accounting Position” in their objective would easily get lost among the numerous searches the recruiter or employer is conducting.  In an age of candidates blasting resumes across cyberspace, this one simple item will show your interest in the specific position as opposed to “job shopping” to see what is out there.
   2. If you cannot be specific, shout your accomplishments in the objective with a brief one sentence tagline.

1.      Accounting professional seeking a long-term career within an organization that values growth.  (Bad)

2.      Proven Accounting Leader ready to relocate with fifteen years of progressive contributions amassing an average of $1.2MM annually in savings to previous employers across manufacturing, healthcare and distribution industries. (Good)

3. Sending a resume to a busy recruiter or employer without an objective is akin to throwing your resume into a black hole.  A HR executive with a Fortune 100 company that was part of our survey summed it up well, “I get about 400 resumes a day, and I don’t have the time to decide what career the candidate would be best fitted to.  If the candidate is interested in joining our team, then she (he) should have done the homework and placed their desires in the objective clearly.”
4. Avoid “feeling” words.  These are not quantifiable values that can be confirmed through a resume, and they will definitely not land you an interview.

1.      FORTRAN Computer Programmer that feels he is ready to move onto COBOL Programming  (Bad)

2.      Accomplished Computer Programmer with extensive COBOL training ready to contribute to a COBOL team. (Good)

 

If you were an employer with limited time, which objective above would warrant your time for an interview?

 

2. Focus on Your Accomplishments, Less on Duties
   1. Reading a list of job duties or responsibilities is boring.  Combine both with a concise listing to show that you have already done what they are asking for successfully.

1.      Managed all aspects of the converting department. (Bad)

2.      Provided leadership to 32 team members effectively operating 17 complex machines in a continuously running converting operation. (Good) 

3.      Sold 116 insurance product lines. (Bad)

4.      Consistently exceeded sales quota every year for 116  insurance product lines through proven aggressive relationship building.  (Good)

 

3. Length:  Too Long or Too Short
   1. “Old School” thought is to keep a resume to one page; however, this is not always practical.  Carefully select words on your resume to get the idea across.  Every word should be selected to get you in the door for an interview.  One should keep in mind that cramming a resume into fewer pages can lose opportunities to sell your candidacy.  Conversely, lengthy resumes may not get reviewed due to being overly burdensome to review.

1.      One page:  Less than 10 years of experience

2.      Two pages:  10+ years of experience

3.      Three pages:  CEO, CIO, CFO, President, SVP, VP, EVP, Academics, etc.

 

4. Typographical Errors
   1. This is the ultimate killer.  Nothing screams incompetent candidate like a typo.  Of course, one should use spell check and grammar check after writing a resume.  However, one should also have a disassociated third party review your resume to insure that errors didn’t slip through spell check and grammar check.  When the resume leaves you for consideration toward a position, it should be immaculate and without errors.  One error can be the difference between you getting the interview or not.

 

5. Keywords?
   1. Regardless of whether we like it or not, this is the age of the computer.  With thousands of resumes flowing across a recruiter or employer desk and a shrinking staff to review them, he/she needs a rapid means of screening resumes.  Hence, the birth of automated electronic resume screening.  Because of this reality, one should insure that keywords unique to your background are prevalent in your resume so that the computer can flag your resume as a candidate.

1.      Administered manufacturing accounting systems (Bad)

2.      Accurately managed $163MM in annual sales through cost accounting systems utilizing JD Edwards, Oracle and Microsoft systems while balancing appropriately against Sarbanes Oxley (Good)

                         Tip: 

Use keywords found on the job description/job posting you are applying for!

 

6. Ditch the “I” and “Me”
   1. The employer is looking for a team player or a leader with a team focus.  Personal pronouns should be changed to neutral language.  Furthermore, this conforms to proper business language etiquette and represents your candidacy in a properly professional image.

 

7. Not interested in Your 5^th Grade Science Fair Project
   1. Keep it relevant.  Including or rambling on about items that are irrelevant may result in having your resume set aside and not reviewed.  One recruiter we spoke to put it this way, “I’m seeking a decisive professional.  If they go on and on with their resume, then I know they can’t get the point across when need be.”

 

8. Is this a resume or an art fair?
   1. A resume is not the forum for showing off your clip art collection or personal photograph.  A conservative, streamlined and bulleted resume is always the better choice.  A CFO we spoke to told of a resume that he keeps as an example of the worst resume, name/address withheld of course.  The resume included clip art of dollar signs, personal photographs and various placed swirl marks.  Keep it simple, and let your accomplishments and skills speak for themselves.

 

9. Responding resources give you away!
   1. Choose who answers your phone carefully.  If someone is answering the phone for you when a recruiter or employer calls, it pays many-fold to insure that they are well briefed on being polite and professional.  You may be very proper and polite, but it reflects poorly on you if the person answering the phone is not.
   2. Make sure they can get in touch with you.  If you make it hard to contact you, then you won’t get the job!  Sounds simple, but numerous recruiters we spoke to have told stories about excellent candidates that were passed up because they couldn’t contact them.  Seek a solution to contact you during normal workday daytime hours.
   3. hotdude@hotmail.com, 283y502875bnkfhadb@yahoo.com  .  Would you consider someone with this hotmail email for a leadership position with your company?  They won’t either.  Imagine the high probability for typographical error if someone wanted to contact you with this yahoo email.  Select the email account to be placed on your resume carefully.  Insure that it is neutral, professional, clear and easy to respond with (eg. johnsmith@yahoo.com).
   4. Limited contact information.  If you take the time to send out a resume, then you want to insure that the respondent can contact you with numerous means (eg. Cell phone, Home phone, Email Address, Pager, etc.).

 

10.   Needs Action!
    1. Action words are the difference between your resume reading as an encyclopedia and an action novel.  Avoid lulling them to sleep by using words that demonstrate your ability to “make things happen.” 

Examples:  eliminated, adapted, acquired, forecasted, recruited, promoted, guided, condensed, taught, negotiated, coordinated, etc.

 

11.   Dates!  Dates!  Dates!
    1. Always include dates of employment for each of your employers.  It is sufficient to put the years of employment and avoid month and days (eg. 2001-2003 instead of 7/24/2001-8/30/2003).
    2. Don’t state years of service (eg. 15 years) in lieu of actual dates worked.
    3. Employers/Recruiters may deem your resume as suspicious if lacking dates and not give you a second chance.
    4. Keep the start date to the left and end date to the right (eg. start date – end date) and stay consistent throughout your resume

 

12.   PDF vs. Microsoft Word
    1. A PDF document is a great way to present your resume in a manner whereas you know that your format retains its design.  However, some recruiters and employers find this format annoying.  Moreover, there are issues with automated resume processing systems scanning PDF documents.  If you insist on sending a PDF formatted resume, then it would be advisable to send a Microsoft Word formatted resume along with the PDF version.

 

13.   Explain Gaps…….professionally.
    1. The name of the game is “Get an Interview.”  If you have a large gap in your resume, then you should make the best attempt possible to explain why.  Unexplained gaps can result in getting passed over.  Hiding or being deceptive about gaps can result in being terminated at a later date due to omitting information.  If you doubt this, simply look at the signature page of most job applications to find the “termination due to omission” clause.

 

14.   Can anyone understand this?
    1. A recruiter or human resources professional may be the first one to get your resume before it potentially goes onto the decision maker.  Hand your resume to someone outside of your field and ask them if they can understand its contents.

 

 

 

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