Common Mistakes in Resume and How to Avoid Them

All applicants want to impress their employees with exceptional resumes.

14:05 08 November 2019

You spend countless hours in front of your monitor trying to figure out what to put on a CV so that a recruiter can single it out and invite you to a job interview. The first thing a potential employer usually pays their attention to is a candidate’s qualification. Skills and previous experience in the job you’re applying for also matter greatly. For some positions, age, marital status, or even your hobbies may be determining factors influencing a recruiters’ decision. With this in mind, the majority of people looking for employment tend to elaborate on contact information, education, experience, and summary sections in the first place. Nevertheless, apart from some obvious mistakes applicant are prone to make when crafting their resume, there are also tons of nuances and subtle details they fail to notice until it’s too late. To secure themselves from possible mistakes, a good many applicants seek help from professional writers who are experts at resume writing. If you’re reading our article, chances are you’re also afraid lest you should make irreparable mistakes in your resume. Don’t worry! We’ll help you avoid some common pitfalls when creating your CV.

Mind Your Grammar

Let’s face it, preoccupied with how to make your resume more compelling and effective, you don’t always bother to check your sentences for style, grammar, punctuation, or syntactic errors. Still, some recruiters pay special attention to even minor mistakes, since they can convey more about the writer than you might think. Those candidates that don’t take care to proofread and edit their writing may be deemed sloppy and inattentive. Needless to say, it’s not the impression you want to make on your employer before meeting him/her in person. Do your best to edit your resume at least twice before submitting it. It’s also a good idea to read your CV aloud or ask a knowledgeable person, or a specialist from Resumeget.com to review it and point at possible typos and errors. Thus, you’ll make sure your writing is intelligible and free of grammar mistakes.

Adapt Your Resume to Various Positions

One of the most common mistakes people make when writing their resume is fail to specifically tailor their resume to suit each role they’re seeking. Of course, it may be tempting to come up with a one size fits all CV and send to employers indiscriminately. Still, in such a case, your resume may be tossed in a “No” pile, since employers feel almost instinctively that you aim to hit multiple targets with one shot and thus form not so-flattering an opinion about you. Therefore, you need to write a CV specifically for an employer you want to work for. And if there is more than one employer, take care to come up with a unique resume for each job or at least tailor your CV so that it can meet the expectations of a particular employer.

Mention Your Accomplishments

Don’t forget that a job is not only about responsibilities but also accomplishments and, if you’re lucky enough moral satisfaction. The majority of applicants pay much attention to listing their responsibilities and totally forget about their praiseworthy accomplishments. In fact, employers are more interested in what you’ve achieved in your previous position rather than you did there.

Don’t Leave Off Important Facts

Some applicants are tempted not to mention such seemingly minor detail as their volunteer experience or the odd jobs they took up in college. But the soft skills acquired in previous positions, e.g., problem-solving, communication, or teamwork, will be of much interest to your employer. It’s also a good idea not merely to list your hobbies in a hobby section, but also explain why this or that pastime appeals to you. Note that you like carving miniature animals from wood when you feel stressed out and emotionally suppressed. Or mention that you like jogging in the morning to boost up your mood and productivity. In other words, let your CV tell a story! Thus, you’ll give your potential employer an opportunity to get to know you as a person.