11 Resume Killers You Should Avoid
Some days I feel like Andy Rooney complaining about things. Over time, I have seen a lot of resumes – here are some things that really turn me off:
1. Cutesy Graphics
I don’t like a resume that has odd fonts or a big letter graphics in it.
2. No White Space
A resume that is full of a small typeface and fills the page from margin to margin offends my squinty eyes.
3. Functional Resumes
This format screams to me that the writer has something to hide or has a “challenged” career track.
4. Missing Dates
If I get a relevant resume that is missing dates, the first thing I do is call the candidate and fill in the holes. I must be able to tell my client about a candidate’s entire career track; many times, early experiences can enhance their cause.
5. Delusional Claims
I can’t believe the credit that some people take in their listed accomplishments. Not only does it make them look like a selfish prima donna, but a quick reference check will usually uncover a person who bends the truth.
6. TMCA
Please avoid Too Many Corporate Acronyms. People in the ROW (rest of the world) probably will not understand them.
If an individual worked at a company for 9-12 months, it’s necessary to list the job. People forget that search firms probably have their old resume in a database somewhere. The old resume can be compared to a new one. A person could lose their eligibility for a terrific job and never know why.
8. Bare Bones Spec Sheets
I want to read a resume that is long enough to give me a sense of where a person was; what they worked on; and what they accomplished in their career – not a one page bulleted sell sheet.
9. Long-Winded Executive Summary
A little secret – I never read an executive summary. I don’t want the descriptive menu. I want the meat and potatoes.
10. Typos
I will usually throw out resumes that have typos, no matter how good the candidate appears to be. It’s as if they walked in to meet me with a big gravy stain on their tie.
11. Formatting
I still receive resumes with weird characters in them or with formatting instructions still visible. All resumes should be in MS Word, the second choice is Adobe Acrobat.
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February 18th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
Well, I am definitely a contrarian at first glance when it comes to the recuitment end of the career industry. But I get the job done for my CEO/C-suite clients who are in the final lap of ACT II of their career timeline heading into an ACT III with meaning and possibility.Plenty of ideas about resumes filed in the box of “conventional wisdom” often trip job-seekers up, and mostly it’s due to poor public understanding of what end-users both want and need. Understandably, recruiters like things in a format that fits their business model. Other end-users and decision-makers are board directors, senior executive management teams, professional networks and new networks. All of this is impacted by the respective market the job-seeker wishes to broadcast to, and overall economic impediments. I agree with some of the points you’ve made here–notably the profile or summary. A bland, jargon-filled prose section that reads as if it could have been written for anyone who is competing for the position is certainly worth eliminating altogether. I would like you to consider, however, the fuller executive resume portfolio as a better tool to help executive-level candidates reach their goals. Best, Phyllis Shabad
February 19th, 2009 at 9:22 am
Phyllis,
Thank you very kindly for your reading our blog and going to the trouble of posting a comment. I don’t disagree with your point of view at all. The brevity and format suggestions I make are for a selfish reason, not a business model. A standard format permits me to scan a far larger number of resumes that might fit our practice. We do NOT use key word scanning software; we look at each resume individually and, if it fits our area of concentration, it is entered into the database with key words we think are appropriate. When we work on a search, the packet our client would receive would include a resume, a coverletter and an outline of our observations after a physical interview. This would be followed up with deep references on past accomplishments, management traits, and cues on how to manage and motivate the individual.
Tony
February 19th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
Hi Tony,
Per #9, what do you personally like to see at the top of the resume if you don’t like summaries? How do you feel about seeing 2 or 3 of the person’s big picture, 40,000 foot view accomplishments at the top?
February 20th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Barbara,
First, thank you for reading our blog and then taking the time to comment. You raise a good question: how do you grab your reader with a headline about your career? I started typing away with a response and then sat back and did some thinking. Here is where I come out. A couple of headline bullet points on your resume don’t hurt. But maybe a better place for them would be in the cover letter where you can have specificity to the reader. Something like: “Increased the traffic at our booth at the FMI by an average of 35% a year for 3 years, or reduced the cost of first time conversion to our audit system by 15% in 2008.”
Tony