| As a professional resume writer in the D.C. area, I | | | | looks better on one or spread out onto two |
| have seen a number of common errors and | | | | pages. We won't even go into the topic of federal |
| mistakes my clients make. Here is my list of | | | | resumes. If you're writing a federal resume, it's a |
| these mistakes. Save yourself the time, and, | | | | whole different story... |
| often the embarrassment, by ensuring these | | | | 5. Acronyms |
| mistakes are not in your resume. | | | | Have your friend read through it and if they have |
| 10. Misspelled Words | | | | no clue what your acronyms are, you should |
| Use Spell Check! I cannot emphasize this enough! | | | | write them out. Remember that not every |
| It's not like you have to pay for it. It's a free tool | | | | human resources manager is going to know |
| with your word processing program. When | | | | specific acronyms and they are going to be your |
| someone gives me their resume and it has | | | | first audience. |
| misspelled words, I get this sick feeling in my | | | | 4. "Responsible for..." |
| stomach as I control myself from telling them | | | | This is a huge pet-peeve of mine. Take it out and |
| what I really think about it. | | | | start with the verb, every time. It will be more |
| 9. Verb Tense Confusion | | | | concise and it creates an active voice, instead of |
| If you performed the job in the past, you are | | | | passive. Of course your were responsible for it, |
| going to add -ed to most of the verbs in your | | | | you're putting it down in your job description. |
| job description. If you don't know what I'm talking | | | | 3. Placement |
| about, you need to do a little grammar refresher | | | | If there is something really fantastic you did, don't |
| and study verb conjugation (remember middle | | | | wait until the end of the page or the second page |
| school English class). If you are presently working | | | | of your resume to talk about it. Put it on the first |
| at a particular job, it should be listed first and the | | | | page, at the top.This is especially true for recent |
| verbs should all be in present tense. | | | | college graduates. I have seen them list all of their |
| 8. Too Many Bullets | | | | part time jobs and then at the very bottom of |
| People tell me all of the time, "but HR likes bullets". | | | | the page, they will put a tiny little section about |
| That may be, but you can't bullet everything on | | | | education. If you are a recent grad, put your |
| your resume. Use it sparingly and if you do use it, | | | | education above your employment section and |
| decide if you are going to write complete | | | | don't be afraid to list some of the individual |
| sentences (using periods at the end) or not and | | | | courses you took or projects you worked on. |
| then BE CONSISTENT. | | | | 2. No Target Job |
| 7. Objective Statements | | | | It's OK to have a generic resume but as soon as |
| See my article about objective statements. They | | | | you decide to submit it for a particular job, you've |
| are outdated. It's better to write a professional | | | | got to target it to that job. That means sitting |
| summary or a qualifications summary. This makes | | | | down with the job announcement and making |
| it less self-centered and more concentrated on | | | | sure everything on the announcement is |
| what you can do for the employer. | | | | somewhere in the text of your resume. So, if the |
| 6. One Page | | | | employer is looking for someone with excellent |
| It's OK if it's one page naturally, but if you have a | | | | customer service skills, you need to mention how |
| long work history give yourself permission to use | | | | and when you utilized excellent customer service |
| more than one page. Of course, if it's only a | | | | skills. |
| matter of a few lines too long, try to fit it onto | | | | 1. |
| one page. Use your judgement of whether it | | | | |