Review Your Resume – Avoid Bloopers

Review your resume before sending it or giving it to anyone. There are a variety of mistakes people make when developing their resume. One blooper may be enough to move your resume from the interview pile to the circular file. Check out a few Resume Bloopers:

• Woman who sent her resume and cover letter without deleting someone else’s editing, including such comments as “I don’t think you want to say this about yourself here”
• Why Interested in Position: “to keep my parole officer from putting back me in jail”
• The applicant listed her name as Alice in the resume but wrote Alyce on the on-site application.
• One resume that came across my desk stated how the individual had won a contest for building toothpick bridges in middle school.
• Hobbies: “Having a good time”
• Candidate explained a gap in employment by saying it was because he was getting over the death of his cat for three months.

Check out 150 Funniest Resume Mistakes,Bloopers, and Blunders Ever. All of the above bloopers came from this article found on JobMob.

Review your resume prior to publishing it for others. Here is a list to get you started:

1. Is your resume appealing to look at? Does it look like a canned resume or does it have a look that will differentiate it from others competing for the same job?

2. Does your resume have a professional look or does it look like it was typed on a typewriter?

3. How many pages? Two pages or three? Use two if you can communicate everything you want the hiring manager to know about your skills and abilities. Three is fine only if necessary.

4. Have you labeled all sections? Use bold print to help offset sections of your resume.

5. Are your dates of employment clear? Format should include Month and year.

6. Is your resume targeted? Do you include accomplishments? Include strong/powerful action words will help you shine.

7. Is your resume written in first person using pronouns? Omit pronouns and use an implied first person voice in your resume.

8. Check spelling, and then check it again. Definitely ask at least two people to proofread your resume. Ask them for feedback and ask them to look for grammatical mistakes and misspellings.

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