Resume Catastrophe's: What To Avoid | Accurate Staffing

Resume Catastrophes: What to avoid

Here at Accurate Staffing, we’ve seen a lot of resumes from people seeking work. And we have seen some otherwise well-qualified candidates hurt their chances of getting hired with resumes that are profoundly error-ridden with easily corrected mistakes!

Consider this: your resume is your fist impression with a potential employer. If that first impression is bad, you will never get that initial email contact or call to go to the next step in the hiring process.

Following are some issues to be aware of when putting your resume together:

Typos and Grammatical Errors

Without a doubt the fastest way to turn-off a potential employer is to provide a resume that is full of typos and grammatical errors. And this extends beyond your resume to include critical email communications as well. Take your time and think about what you are writing. Use the spell check and grammar check in your writing program (MS Word, Google Docs, etc.). When you are done writing, step away for a few minutes, and then come back and PROOFREAD! After you are satisfied that what you have written makes sense grammatically and you’ve caught all your typos, show your resume to a friend or colleague and have them check it for errors. When employers receive a resume or email communication with many typos or grammatical issues, they will make some not-too-flattering conclusions about you. The bottom line is, that critical first impression will be a bad one.

Errors in Contact Information

So, you’ve got a great resume and an employer reaches out to you via email, and they instantly receive an “undeliverable” response because you have a typo in your email address. Or, they call the phone number provided and receive the “we’re sorry, the number you have provided…” or worse yet, the number goes to the wrong person. We’ve seen it happen!

It’s very easy to overlook your contact information, so double and TRIPLE check your details!

Visual Formatting

When a potential employer is viewing your resume, you only have a few seconds to catch their attention. While you want to have a visually great looking resume, keep the following tips in mind:

White space is your friend: your resume needs to be easy to read. You don’t need to fill every available space with information. Avoid run-on sentences and try to use bulleted lists with your highlights and accomplishments.
Avoid multiple fonts: choose a font style that is easy to read and avoid using several different fonts on your resume. Avoid using ALL CAPS in your writing, some people interpret this as SHOUTING.
Including Too Much: try to limit your resume to the last 10 to 15 years of work experience, it’s not necessary to include everything you ever did; keep your document to 1 or two pages.