Besides a cover letter, a resume is the first thing that an employer sees before they actually meet you. That’s why it’s important that you don’t make any resume bloopers or resume blunders that may give them a bad first impression.
Remember, the objective of a resume is to get you into your first job interview, so your interview preparation should include double-checking for common resume blunders.
Here are some common resume blunders that you should avoid:
- Inappropriate email address – Imagine that you’re the HR person and you see two great resumes, but the email addresses are: HarrySmith@yahoo.com and golddigger4life@gmail.com. Now which resume looks more professional to you? You want to always include a professional-sounding email address on your resume. If you don’t have one, create one just for job applications.
- Lying about your previous work experience - You should never lie about your work experience just to meet the demands of the job description. Yes, it may look good on your resume, but if your boss ever finds out you may get scolded, or worse, fired. You may be surprised just how many people in the same industry have connections to your old company.
- Language errors - These mistakes include misspelling words, using the wrong punctuation and not complying with proper grammar. There’s nothing worse for an employer than to see a handful of spelling mistakes on a resume…especially if the career description involves any type of writing or editing!
- Poor formatting - The key to proper formatting for a resume is consistency! That means don’t try to be extra cute or creative with bullets and line breaks. Keep your font size the same and don’t leave too much white space.
- No personal pronouns - You should never use the words “I” or “me” when you are listing your job descriptions. Instead of saying “I developed an email platform” you should say “Developed an email platform.”
- Reference rules - Ideally you don’t want to list all of your reference information on your resume. That takes up too much space, so either provide them on a separate sheet of paper or say “Available Upon Request” under its subheading.
Resume blunders can be avoided if you just take the time to read what you wrote. You can proofread on your own, but it’s a good idea to take our resume advice and have it reviewed by a family or friend as well.