A strong resume (or curriculum vitae) is a vital document when you apply for that dream job. Unfortunately, I constantly see clients make the same resume errors time and time again. It doesn’t matter if you’re an executive looking for promotion, a recent graduate or someone looking to make a career transition, there are common resume fails that can be avoided.

Top 5 Resume Fails

  1. Spelling, punctuation and grammar errors. These will make you look unprofessional. If you’re unsure, ask a friend to proofread your resume before you send it to your next potential employer.
  2. Copying information from you current job/position description and including it in your document. This approach will produce a resume that is generic and doesn’t showcase your unique skills or contributions.
  3. Promoting your employer instead of yourself. A recruiter wants to know what you can offer. They are not interested in the intricate details of your previous employer’s success unless you can connect it back to your achievements, skills and experience. Use your resume to promote you.
  4. Chronic underselling. Make sure you highlight a few key achievements in each role that showcase your strengths. Don’t simply list your responsibilities as they appeared in the role description as this won’t provide the recruiter with any real insights about who you are and what you can do.
  5. Bad fonts and layout issues. Sometimes people get carried away and over-complicate their resume with multiple fonts (two different types is enough), small fonts (no smaller than 10 point please!), too much information on one page or formatting errors. Keeping it simple will help ensure your application looks professional and is easy to read.

Do you need help with your resume? Check out my Resume Revamp services today. #10%offResumeRevamp&StylingPackagesuntil30Sept2016

Make sure you check out Bec Smith, Personal Stylist’s post on Corporate wear doesn’t need to be boring (part of our collaborative Revamp your Career series every Monday).