Resumes are your first chance to make an impression in the hiring process. While a good first impression can help boost your chances of being hired, a bad first impression can just as equally hurt them. Here are four common mistakes to avoid when putting your resume together:
- Poor grammar and spelling. Never rely completely on spellcheck when it comes to ensuring your resume is free of errors. Ask others to review your resume, focusing specifically on grammar and spelling. Sometimes it takes another set of eyes to see a mistake that was right in front of you the entire time.
- Making your resume too long or too short. If you have enough valuable experience to warrant a two page resume, write a two page resume. Trying to condense the information into one page often results in a poorly formatted resume that is difficult to read. As a general rule, two page resumes are okay. Three or more pages are when they get to be too long.
- Including too much personal information. Do not share a picture of yourself, your marital status, date of birth or other information that is not relevant to the position you are applying to. In most cases you do not even need to include the high school you attended or the jobs you held early on in your career—particularly if they are unrelated to the job you are applying to and occurred more than ten years ago.
- Writing an objective or summary that does not match the job. In general, an objective is not needed on a resume. Instead, customizing your overall resume to the job you are applying to can be much more effective. If you do decide to include an objective, be sure it speaks specifically to the job you are applying to and is not too vague or broad. Similarly, if you are including a summary of skills, ensure that they also remain relevant.