You can find a great many examples of well-written resumes in books and magazines. You must be able to tell what a good resume looks like so that you are able to create a great one. Employers can tell very quickly which resumes are good and which ones they will discard. There are some things you will not want to do in your resume to keep you from ending up in the trash basket.
Here are the top ten things you do not want to do in your resume.
1. Lying on your resume is never a good idea. Some people believe that they need to plump up their resume just a little bit and it will be fine. The resume may look great and give you the look of the ideal candidate for the job, but in the end it's just not worth the trouble. If someone checks up on your resume and finds that you were not truthful you may not be allowed to apply to that company again. And if you do land the job and they find out later you could be fired for your lie.
2. Don't leave items on your resume that is no longer relevant. You are taking up valuable space on items that don't matter anymore. Your reader will have to dig through your resume to find the information that is relevant.
3. Don't write long paragraphs. Make sure that you choose a format for your resume that is easy to read. Bullet points are perfect for easy reading and finding the relevant information at a glance.
4. Don't put your entire life story in your resume. You might very well have a long and storied career, but you should only go back about ten years. Get rid of the old information that no longer applies and save the space for the current information.
5. Don't put items on your resume from past jobs that you don't want to do again. If you had job responsibilities from your previous job that you didn't like, don't list them. You are telling your current prospective employer that you want to have those responsibilities again.
6. Never use more than one page for your resume. Your resume should be pared down to one page that is short and concise. A resume should be easy to read and contain all of the important information that your prospective employer will need.
7. Your resume should not have any grammar or spelling errors. One error is all that it takes to get your resume thrown out.
8. Don't use unusual fonts or headers in your resume. Also, don't change fonts throughout your resume. Choose one and keep it steady through the resume.
9. Don't focus on your flaws. If there are areas of your previous job that you did not do particularly well, leave it out. There is no need to reveal all those details.
10. Don't have just one resume. You should create a resume for every job that you are applying for. Try to create a resume that is tailored to the job you are applying for.
|
