6 Resume Pitfalls You Need To Take Off Your Resume

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It takes only 20 seconds for an employer to scan your resume. They love the phrase “less is more,” and they really mean it. You too can apply this trick on your resume. The point is to keep your resume short and simple, supporting your brand. You should have enough information to draw a recruiter’s attention when he actually looks at your resume.

When you add irrelevant data to your resume, it normally dilutes your key message. Employers want to stay away from any chance of discrimination about gender, religion, age, marital status and ethnicity. Thus, the less you have on your resume, the more likely you get in. Each word and sentence should be carefully chosen to prove that you fit in the job requirement perfectly. Below are 6 common resume pitfalls that you should never put on your resume.

1. Graduation Dates: Include your degree and the institution, but take off the dates. Age discrimination is really a matter of concern for many people. Thus, take off your dates, and don’t let reviewers discover your age.

2. Unrelated experience: Cut off the unrelated experience that is not required for the position you have applied. If you have applied for marketing and your experience shows IT management, you need to downplay the unrelated experience and create new achievement sheets that support your experience.

3. Personal stuff: Most of the resumes usually include personal stuff, like marital status, family members, etc. All this information is illegal to collect so don’t include them in your resume. Also, try to cut off references to hobbies, political views and clubs.

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4. Gaps in your work experience: Eliminate gaps in your past work and try to fill them with freelance work, part time jobs, direct sales positions, etc. Normally, the gaps in your experience are not appreciated, so try to avoid them.

5. Check your grammar: Make your resume grammatically correct and free of misspellings and typos. Watch every word in your resume and correct them if they are wrong. You can write the sentences like headlines in the first person. Don’t try to mix first person and third person; this will create chaos unnecessarily and won’t look good.

6. Maintain a length for your resume: Recent graduates have short resumes as compared to the experienced people. Graduates normally have a one-page resume, and experienced professionals can make theirs two to four pages. Try to maintain a length for your resume; don’t skip things to make it short. A resume should have enough detail to support the position you are applying for. Thus, a two to four page resume is acceptable and sounds good.

You need to keep a right balance for your resume. It’s not about the length of your resume; it’s about the work you have done, your skills and experience and the way you present matters the most.

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This Content Originally Shared On : resumewriterforyou.com