Resume are an integral part of any job application these days, especially in the private sector. They are the first impression that you have before your employer. It is on the basis of your resume that you may get a call for your interview. It is hence very important to frame an attractive and well-planned resume.
There are certain mistakes which most of the youngsters make while framing their resume. Here we shall be talking about such common mistakes and the things which should not be a part of your resume.
- To begin with the common beginner’s mistake- “Writing ‘resume’ as a heading”. Most of the people specify the heading of their resume as ‘resume’ which is unprofessional and senseless. If it has to be sent to your potential employer, he would definitely have a clue of what it is. You do not spoon feed it to him. It is best to leave the heading space blank and begin with your name and other details.
- Do not specify irrelevant job experiences- It is baseless to provide information about your part-time job as a college graduate or any other job which shall not be even close to the type you are applying to. He or would not be interested to know whether you worked at McD or KFC in your last summer vacations. Just cut the unprofessionalism.
- Objectives- You need not give your objective for your resume as it is very clear to the employer as to what your objective is- getting a job at his firm! if you give an objective, make sure it is simple and realistic.
- Personal information- It is not advisable to give your personal information such as your marital status, religious and political beliefs, your identification details, your PAN details etc.
- The reason why you left your previous job- it shows your desperation of creating a good impression on the employer. Such things should not come up in your resume but should be discussed face to face in an interview.
- Fancy or unconventional fonts- People trying to make their resume more attractive go for curvy and elegant fonts. But the fact is, it does nothing well. Instead, it increases the level of difficulty in readability. Going for simple and conventional fonts such san- serif, Arial is the best thing to do. Make sure you use the right font size.
- Your photograph- Attaching your photo to the resume will not give you an edge. Remember a resume is a statement of your qualifications, not an ID proof.
- Mentioning your social media links- The selection shall not be made by the number of followers you have on Instagram or Twitter. Mentioning such things, just withdraws one’s interest from your resume.
- Writing resume in first or third person- It is already very clear that whatever you are mentioning is about yourself, so no need of using ‘I’, ‘me’, ‘we’, ‘my’ etc.
- Headers, footers, charts, tables and unnecessary headings- Make your resume comprehensible without using any graphic element. Don’t use heading like ‘ name’, ‘address, ‘telephone no.’, ‘Email ID’ etc. while specifying their respective contents.
