Five Biggest Resume Mistakes

After reviewing many thousands of resumes, these are the most common mistakes I have found:

1. Appearance – your resume layout and presentation creates the all-important first impression; it is either aesthetically pleasing or it may immediately turn off the reader. The use of white space should be balanced and invite the reader to read through your resume; all margins should be at least one inch wide to avoid looking cramped and the text should be bullet points rather than “blocky” paragraphs. Many readers will rush through a resume if it looks like a dense legal document – just to get it over quickly with because it takes too much effort to review.
2. Ironically, the time I spend reading a resume is inversely proportional to the number of words contained in it – less really is more with regard to resumes. The purpose of the resume is not to tell your life story or get a job offer but simply to get an interview. Fewer, well-crafted key points are much more effective than listing every detail of your life and hoping the reader finds something interesting.
3. Typos and grammatical mistakes are almost an immediate signal to toss the resume into the vertical file (trash bin). This may sound harsh since everyone makes mistakes but in today’s hyper-competitive environment, how can a manager trust a candidate who cannot properly proofread his or her own work on such an important document? One student listed “great attention to detal”…Such mistakes bring into doubt the candidate’s attention to detail and interest in the position, particularly when a manager is reviewing a number of other resumes that do not contain any typos.
4. Some resume formats include a career objective in which the applicant explains what type of job/role he is looking for. Advocates say that stating career objectives allows employers to get a quick, clear sense of how the applicant is positioning him- or herself, but I am not a fan of this format for a few reasons (the situation is different for experienced professionals or career changers). For one, these objectives focus the resume on what the applicant wants, not what the applicant can do for the company. Resumes should be about communicating how you can be an asset to the company, not the other way around. You are also disqualifying yourself for consideration for other possible positions because you have already “staked out” what you want to do. As a new grad entering an industry, you want to maximize your options rather than limit them; you can always reject an offer if it is not a fit but at least it is your choice to explore different opportunities.
5. The most common mistake candidates make on resumes is listing day-to-day tasks in a given position rather than highlighting what their efforts accomplished for the company, clients, or their manager. Examples of this mistake include:

• “Worked with a senior financial services representative reviewing client cases.”
• “Provided fundamental and technical analysis for portfolio manager.”
• “Researched consumer preferences for online food delivery services.”
• “Supported marketing manager to expand strategic relationships.”

None of the above statements contain any results or accomplishments; they just explain what the candidate worked on during the day. This is a natural mistake because this is how you recall spending your time; however, the reader will likely know the responsibilities of a marketing analyst or an equity research analyst. If your work experience looks like a posted job description, it isn’t conveying any compelling information to persuade the hiring manager to call you in for an interview.

Your job here is to focus on the results of your efforts, not the responsibilities. The examples below show cause and effect; i.e. the results of your work:

• “Provided analysis that showed decreasing gross margins of company X, which led the Portfolio Manager to sell his equity positions in the company across several portfolios.”
• “Developed marketing campaigns on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to generate new business, resulting in a 35 percent increase in advertisement responses.”
• “Automated the MySQL customer database to create more targeted sales campaigns, decreasing marketing costs by 25 percent while maintaining customer response levels.”

Your resume will often be the first point of contact you have prospective employers so make sure you make a great first impression!

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Jerome Wong

President at Real World Experts, LLC

Jerome Wong founded Real World Experts after having successful careers in finance and technology. For the past 20+ years, his frank and pragmatic advice has helped develop the careers of many of the young graduates he has worked with across the globe. His no-nonsense approach focuses on proven differentiation strategies at every step of the recruiting process.

Latest posts by Jerome Wong (see all)

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