Hiring Experts Reveal Resume Pet Peeves

[Buster's Uncle]

Hiring Experts Reveal Resume Pet Peeves
By David Mielach, BusinessNewsDaily Staff Writer  | LiveScience.com – 4 hrs ago...


Crafting a résumé that is unique and impressive is the goal of every job seeker. However, there is no one blueprint to follow in this process. Despite that lack of guidance, one surefire way to prevent your résumé from making the circular file is to avoid some of these most common résumé pet peeves of hiring managers. 

Nondescript objectives

Your objective should never be, "I want to work at X company in Y role." That's a no-brainer, the act of submitting an application indicates interest in the role. What do you want to do with your career? What do you want to bring to a company? If you can't come up with something unique and engaging, leave the objective off of your résumé all together. — Bethany Perkins, head recruiter for Software Advice


Small fonts

For most fonts, size 10 is the absolute smallest, and even then it might be too small, depending on the font you are using. If your reader needs to take out his/her reading glasses to read your résumé, you have already aggravated them and your résumé is heading for the trash can. — Michelle Riklan, founder and managing director at Riklan Resources

Formatting problems

Avoid using dated Microsoft packages for your word doc résumé, as new systems don’t always read the document accurately, with many résumés coming through unreadable at the worst or unaligned at the best. — Chris Delaney, founder of Employment King

Colored résumé paper

In an effort to make their résumé stand out, some job seekers are using colored paper to stand out. This might actually work in a few, very few, instances, but I would almost always advise against it unless you are in a creative industry and you're résumé is amazing.  – Paul Chittenden, co-founder of JobKaster

Not following instructions

I just hired an assistant and had to review over 250 résumés and cover letters for this position. My ad asked to not send a generic cover letter and to visit our website and explain why their skills are a good fit for us. Seventy percent of the time they'd shoot off a non-customized résumé, and 90 percent of the time they wouldn't include a cover letter. Because of this lack of following direction it weeded out a huge portion of applicants. – Julie Weinhouse, principal at HERO Entertainment Marketing

Using the wrong tense

I get frustrated when people do not have their past job responsibilities in past tense. You are no longer doing that job; it is imperative to make sure your résumé reflects that. – Rachel Bass, executive recruiter at Windsor Resources

Not listing details

Don't skip the starting and ending dates for each position you've held. Employers are looking to see your employment continuity, tenure and commitment. If that information is missing on one résumé and it's included on another candidate's résumé who has similar skills and experience, I'll move them into the "consider" pile and the incomplete résumé into the "not consider" pile. – Arlene Vernon, president of HRx

A bad résumé name

People should name their résumé by their first and last name. A lot of times candidates will send in résumés named "espence_résumé91.pdf, Résumé2013, or even revision5résumé. I'm glad you have revised your résumé 5 times, but it would be great if version six had just your first and last name.  – Pete Juratovic, president of Clikzy Creative

No photos, please

With the widespread use of social media sites like LinkedIn, there is no need to add pictures to résumés. Use the space for more detail. – Mark Frietch, president of Tac Services

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