Common Resume Mistakes

As a recruiter, reviewing hundreds of resumes a week, patterns begin to emerge, and can get extremely annoying. The following are some resume mistakes that I come across much too often.

• No proofreading - Far too many people don't edit their resumes, and even those that do cannot catch every mistake. Every good writer has someone else review their writing, and a resume is no different. After writing, reviewing, and editing, there are bound to be mistakes that are not caught. Having someone else, who has good writing skills, edit your resume is a necessity because they can catch mistakes that you miss. Its a good idea to have more than one person review your resume after you have edited it yourself.

• Not deleting unused parts of templates - There are many templates available on all kinds of word processors. They are a great place to start a resume and organize it. However, if the unused parts of the template aren't deleted and "[insert company name here]" is on the resume when submitted it for a job, the recruiter will not consider it, and this happens frequently. This would also be taken care of if the resume was proofread.

• Unnecessary information - There is often unnecessary information included on resumes, many times this information also identifies a protected class such as age, ethnicity, or gender. This information is not supposed to even enter a recruiters mind due to EEO laws. This information is unprofessional to use and such identifying information should not be included. Pictures should also not be included since they show the same information, and are very unprofessional, even if the picture is professionally done. Sensitive information such as social security numbers, drivers license numbers, and date of birth, should NEVER be put on a resume, simply for the safety and security of your own identity; not to mention including it shows the recruiter that your dumb.