Common Resume Mistakes That Are Killing Your Job Search

You’ve got the experience and the knowledge base, so why is your job search falling flat? It’s a frustrating question that many job seekers face. As it turns out, even the most qualified potential employees often make resume mistakes that can torpedo their job hunt. Make sure you’re not one of them.

Don’t let friends and family lead you astray

When you’re looking for a job, you’ll probably get a significant amount of advice (both solicited and not) from people in your life. Your friends, family members, and neighbors will want to chime in and tell you how your resume should look. While you can listen to their comments, don’t feel as though you have to take every piece of advice seriously. Though these people may be great at their job, this doesn’t mean that they’re qualified to be dishing out resume advice. Instead of blindly making adjustments based on these suggestions, seek out help from a trained resume writing professional. They can make recommendations that will actually help your job search and make your resume stand out.

Don’t create just one generic resume

In many cases, hiring managers use machines to seek out certain keywords and pull out the resumes that match these keywords. This means that a generic resume will probably not earn you a second look. Instead, read that job description carefully and incorporate some of the wording from it into your resume. If they’re looking for a “social media strategist” then you want to be sure that this phrase appears several times on your resume. If you’re using “Facebook expert” then you may not get flagged, even if your skills are exactly what they’re looking for. The details count when it comes to today’s job hunt.

Don’t use bland words

Hiring managers see so many resumes that they all start to blend together. If you’re calling yourself a “detail-oriented team player” you can rest assured that you’re not the only one. Skip the generic, snooze-worthy terms and add some spice to your resume. What makes you unique? What kinds of personality traits do you have that others might not? Your resume needs flare and flavor in order to help you stand out among the crowd.