Your resume is your primary marketing documents and the recruiter is your customer. In order to impress your customer, you will have to create your resume meticulously because a small mistake in your resume can give a big eye-roll to the recruiter.
The fact says that a recruiter spends only 6-7 seconds on a resume to judge it. In such a short span the recruiter can catch the smaller than the smallest mistake of your resume. Most of the job seekers follow the same pattern of resumes and lots of them create it on autopilot so it’s not a big task for the recruiters to find out the mistakes in the resume.
Most of the recruiters sort the resumes in Shortlisted, On hold and No pile. If your resume lands in first two pile then there is a chance that you may hear from the hiring managers. But if after rewriting and updating your resume diligently on job portals you are not getting the calls from recruiters then your resume is most probably landing in no pile.
In this post, we will talk about the 7 mistakes that get your resume placed in no pile.
These Mistakes Get Your Resume in Trash
There are common mistakes that can get your resume immediately moved to the “no” pile category by recruits. Once your resume is placed in no pile recruiters never take a look at them again. Let’s know more about those mistakes which can spoil your first impression, your ‘Resume’.
1. Grammatical and Typo Errors
Nothing can be more irritating than reading a resume with grammatical and typo errors. The typos and grammatical errors show your carelessness and if you are not attentive to your resume then how can you be attentive for the company.
Spell check is a great tool; use it while creating your resume. When you add your newer experience in your resume, do not forget to edit the previous experience as well. Your present experience should be in present tense and past experience should be in past tense.
2. Lack of Keywords
The right use of keywords is an important skill which can land your resume in the shortlisted pile. The hiring managers and recruiters get loads of resumes and they don’t read them thoroughly. To sort a resume the recruiters search for the keyword, like if the post is for accountant then the keywords can be GST or Balance sheet.
As a job seeker, you need to mention the keywords appropriately in your resume. It would be better if you mention them in the first or second paragraph of your resume. You can also use the keywords related to your job in the experience part of your resume. Here you will have to be careful about the overuse of any keyword.
3. Same Objective Statement
An aimless objective is one of the most common things that get many resumes placed in no pile. Most of the resumes start with the same cookie-cutter objective. You will be surprised to know that recruiters hardly read the objective part of your resume. But if your career objective is creative then it can lure the recruiters’ eyes.
Having an objective in your resume is not that tradition which you have to follow anyhow, you can skip it. But if you want to carry the objective in your resume then mention your skills in the objective. Here is an example of this;
Presenting a skill set of administrating leadership with accounting experience. Looking for a great opportunity to mesh my areas of expertise to deliver value as a Senior Admin Officer with expertise in finance.
4. Cliches and Repeated words
The presence of a few very common words eats the creativity of your resume. Words like an expert, innovative and creative sound good but when you use them in your resume then it shows that you are looking to prove that you have all the mentioned qualities.
Use words like increased, won and created to show that you have proven skills to the recruiters. It’s a small thing which can make a bigger effect on the recruiter. To get your resume placed in a shortlisted pile to rewrite it with active verbs instead of adding your experiences in the same resume.
5. Highlighting Job Responsibilities Only
Well, you have to mention the job responsibilities in your resume to get another job but your job responsibilities cannot win a better job for you. For a great jump in your career, you will have to mention your achievements in your resume. For this, you will have to mention how easily you completed the given task within the timeline and budget.
Your achievements are your success story and the hiring companies will be more interested to know that what you have achieved so far. To show your quantifiable achievements always use bullets and numbers to highlight them.
6. Irrelevant Experience
Your resume is not your biography so treat it like that only. Mentioning all the relevant and irrelevant experiences in your resume make it lengthy and boring. We would suggest you carry forward only the relevant experience in your resume.
Many job seekers mention the work experience that they gained in summer vacation. There is no need to mention everything in your resume related to your work history. If your experience is relevant but more than 10 years old then drop it. What you were doing in 2008 will not be able to enhance your skills in 2019, so do not mention it.
7. Unconventional Formatting
If your resume talks about relevant experience and skills then it will end up in a shortlisted pile, so there is no need to decorate your resume with different graphics effects. Many job seekers believe that if they have some out of box resume then they will get a call from hiring managers. But the fact is, initially the recruiter judge your resume on the basis of your skills and experience.
Some unconventional formatting of resume can help you if you are a graphic designer or looking for a job in a creative industry. But in this case, also, you will have to make sure that your resume should be easily readable.
Winding It
To craft an outstanding resume you will have to take care of all the above mentioned mistakes that can land your resume in no pile. Push yourself, spend more time and highlight your achievements to get a chance of working with your dream company. Be confident and get ready with a perfect resume to land a job.
