7 Mistakes to Avoid While Writing a Professional Resume

Writing a professional resume before applying for a new job can be a daunting task. Ever wondered why your job application was not considered despite having all the skills required to justify your candidature? Well, your resume might be the answer. Your resume is the first thing that the recruiter is going to notice (even before your shoes). It is your resume that reaches the desk of the recruiter before you. It takes her only a few moments to screen the document before making a call to shortlist you for the interview. So, you really need to put in more than usual time and effort to write that deemed to be a perfect resume that can get you through the "first impression" like a professional.

Once you have found a suitable vacancy, the first thing that you do is to think about your strengths and weaknesses, key skills, and long-term goals. The journey begins here! You need to present it all in your resume in an impressive manner. People nowadays even prefer professional resume writing services to get the job done and make it suitable for hiring managers. However, if you are trying your hands on it, there are these 7 mistakes you must avoid while writing a professional resume.

1. Copy-Paste-Edit

Time is the constraint but if it costs you a job, you need to utilize it efficiently. The biggest mistake that one does is to copy-paste a friend's resume straight away to save time and make only a few edits. Fresh job seekers, especially, commit this error and make a not-so-impressive first impression'. Remember that your skills are different than the person whose draft you are going to use and the role that you apply for might also be different. More than anything, your resume is the reflection of your personality and you cannot copy-paste that. Besides, copying the same resume for different jobs might not be a smart move as different roles ask for different sets of skills. So, the first rule is to write your own resume. You may take inspiration but copying should be avoided.

2. Too long is too much

Yes, you read that right. You need to fit all the right details in a precise and comprehensive manner. Avoid writing unnecessary details about yourself that might not be relevant for your job. A resume should be short and well-groomed. Remember that the recruiter has to go through several resumes. So, a short resume is what they would look at first. Although there is no standard length of an ideal resume, experts believe those job seekers with less than 7 years of experience should confine their words to only one page.

3. Grammatical errors

Your resume might be the reflection of your writing as well as verbal communication skills . It might be reflective of how you are going to write the e-mails. So, you cannot avoid rereading what you have mentioned on paper and look for any spelling errors, incorrect tense, articles, wrong prepositions, and punctuations, or even active-passive voice. First-person pronouns and out-of-context buzzwords should also be avoided. Sometimes, writing in a jiffy on the last day of an opening may lead you to miss a word or two that would have otherwise made it a perfect resume. So, it's always advised to proofread the document multiple times before you push the 'send' button. After all, you won't like a misspelled or missing word to be the reason behind not getting shortlisted.

4. Obsolete fonts and designs

Creativity is a plus point but a resume is not the right thing to show the art of shapes and colors. A professional resume demands the right font and style to make it look simply effective. Fancy fonts and shapes are the things of gone days and should be avoided. Similarly, the use of different colors for different sections is not appreciated. The text of the resume should only be in black and one should follow the same pattern of font, tables, and columns throughout while writing the resume. Designing a resume is an art of simplicity. You will get a lot of other options to showcase your artistic skills on docs after you land into the job.

5. Forced vocabulary

Just as creativity in designing a resume needs to be constrained, one has to work on the vocabulary too. This is one of the most time-consuming parts as the applicant has to find the right words out to make the resume comprehensive and impressive. On one hand, a weak vocabulary and the use of inappropriate or informal words in the wrong places might not be appreciated. On the other hand, strong and formal words are the requirements of a good resume. But forcing too much to show off a strong vocabulary will do no good. Your sentences should be persuasive but not a farrago of unintelligible expressions. Yes, just like that!

6. Achievements that don't fit in

Every achievement holds a special place in the achiever's heart. But again, one needs to control the sentiments while filling in the accomplishments. The rule of thumb is- what is irrelevant should be avoided. The achievements that you mention should show how skilled you are for the job that you are going to apply for. For example, a trophy in a singing contest has to do nothing with the vacancy for a data analyst. On the other hand, recognition in a writing competition would be reflective of your skills if you are applying for the profile of the content writer.

7. Ambiguous summary and objective

If you are a fresh applicant, the objective in your resume needs to be clear, concise, and succinct. It should be reflective of your true desired goal in the industry that you are going to work at. On the other hand, experienced applicants should keep their career summary precise and to the point. Overused statements such as 'accomplished individual seeking growth... ' in summary or the objective makes the write-up distasteful. Besides, an ambiguous summary lacking clarity would make the reader perplexed.