Surely, by now you must have foreseen the job market for 2016 and the hiring trends that will make all the difference between a deserving job candidate and one who denotes the ‘crowd’. In addition to this, employers too are getting highly selective and precautious while spending recruitment budgets that are sky-high. Need of the hour is not a stupendous applicant, but the ‘right’ one who knows his job role to the highest accuracy.
For sure, you might be thinking about all those employer reverts you waited for, the incessant follow ups with the assistant that got nowhere and all the referrals you had to chase to get in touch with the employer. However, all of these go in complete vain in the lack of apt presentation in the resume. While the internet is awash with posts about not making any spelling or grammar mistakes in your resume, there are far serious things you should ponder over to get it past the system.
Mentioned below are a few resume mistakes that kill your job prospects and force you to settle for an undesirable offer, when your career path could’ve been much lucrative.
Content Going Haywire
In a time when content is the sole reason behind a successful online campaign, it becomes a sheer need to fill up your resume with the most crisp yet comprehensive piece of information. An old saying though, but it often finds application in today’s competitive job market – your resume is as good as the content it holds!
For instance, imagine yourself to be a hiring manager stuck between two candidates. One comprises of wall-to-wall text that isn’t properly formatted and seems incomplete in terms of the information conveyed. On the other hand, the second one talks to the point and is still worth scanning within 30 seconds. Without investing any more thought, you would naturally prefer the latter, considering the time-crunch and urgent need you face as an HR manager. Make a good use of white space and keep things focused. Focusing ample time and energy on a resume that is possible your route to the career of riches is much preferable than making a haste out of it. Revise it time and again to add finesse at every instance possible.
Mentioning Quirky Work Details
For it is a complete necessity to share your prior work experience with all prospective employers, keeping your job titles and other details simple would rightly deem fit. You might have worked for the Managing Director of Champion Eateries, but keeping absurd details would always kick you out of the race to the interview room.
The previous company might be into the habit of customizing job roles and having a Sales Ninja instead of an executive, but presenting the same name in front of the employer would make your profile out-of-context, hence undesirable in a number of aspects.
Not only this, the applicant tracking system that acts as a resume filter would rule you out of all searches, based on all required keywords that would go missing from your resume. Still, if need be, ask any client, whether he would get a solution from the Sales Executive or a Happiness Advisor?
Not Talking in Concrete Numbers
Having read a zillion blogs already, quantifying your accomplishments would surely be the most viral advice pertaining to resume curation for job search in 2016. A flowery language can surely be used while curating a cover letter, but the resume should always be about your career specifics. Surely, you were a great employee in the previous company, one who outperformed a majority of co-workers, but how to test the same?
Obviously, facts and numbers.
Abstain from making the ‘work experience’ section seem like a series of job descriptions cumulated in the face of every recruiter you apply with. While phrases like ‘data entry’, ‘campaign management’ and ‘project supervision’ do indicate your field specific expertise, associating them with numbers would bring more life to the resume. Employers in all major corporations long for candidates who can measure their growth and work on pre-defined key metrics. Of course, speaking in numbers would be the most specific way to go about it.
A Cluttered Format
It’s a complete dilemma. There’s so much you wish to include, yet limited by the space. Formatting your resume might seem more like a frustrating job at the beginning, but it is quite indispensable nevertheless. Looking for a role in any modern organization, yet sticking to the old resume format would push you even down, if not worsen your job hopes.
According to Forbes, up to 75% of the job candidates get sidelines by the applicant tracking system, just because their resume lacks any readable format. Keep all details to the point, along with ample breathing space in the resume for reading clarity. Sections need to be in a neat chronological form, with facts and figures mentioned clearly would make it even efficient to be sorted out of the database. Not only this, saving it in a .txt or.doc format is always better than a .pdf or image formats which create a complete mess out of the document.
Being all ‘Me’ in the Resume
For sure, it is a content piece dedicated to your career and qualifications, but keeping it self-centered and self-centered only would be of no good. Rather, it would make you come across as an applicant desperate for recognition and short of any team-spirit whatsoever.
Likewise, it’s fine to have a section listing out your core skills, but throwing with both hands and whatever you can makes a complete joke of you candidacy. Instead, listing instances that you turned in the organization’s favor would make things highly subtle.
This is what that makes a difference in a rejected application and a shortlisted job seeker. Make sure you fall under the desirable category. Take your time and create a resume that reflects the best of you, not all of you!
Image source – blaugh.com Fitz & Pirill , blogs.msdn.com
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