Why I Ditched that Resume

There are a lot of reasons Recruiters stop reading a resume. Here's the short list;

1. Not capitalizing your name. Really! I've seen this a hundred times. Unless you're e.e. cummings, proper grammar is extremely important to your entire resume. Not capitalizing the first letters of your first and last name? I don't read any further; resume ditched.  Think of it this way, your resume is like a first meeting. You should want to shine, be out to impress. Stupid mistakes makes me think if this is your best, why would I want you on my team?

2. Long lists of skills. I want to see where you worked, dates and name of company and then a bullet-ed list of what you did there. BULLETS! Don't give me long rambling sentences. Just the facts!
I have limited time and reading resumes is not my only task. I've got a lot of stuff to do and if your resume is a bunch of rambling paragraphs I'll start to skim, looking for key words and I might miss something. A bullet-ed list lets me see what I need to see and saves time.

3. No longer than 2 pages. The other day I got a 10 page resume. I skimmed the first two pages and ditched it. This person evidently doesn't know how to write a resume, never took the time to Google it and now I have a book to read. Um...no.

4. Read the job description. I get resumes for construction management that say; I'm looking for a teaching position where I can use my skills....  Hello! You didn't read the job. I imagine a person sitting there just clicking through to every job on indeed and hitting the send resume button. Or maybe they haven't looked at that resume in a long time.

5. Explain the gaps. If you haven't worked in the last two years, tell me why. I see gaps and wonder. Sure, the reason could be understandable; stay at home mom, studied overseas for a year, husband/wife got a new position and you had to move, etc. Could be anything, but letting me know will save your resume from the discard pile.

6. Short work periods. Dates of how long you held a job is the first thing I look for when reading a resume. People who change jobs every few months are called job hoppers. No staying power. On one resume the person only worked in a place for 3 months but next to that they wrote, "Partners split up, company closed." That's reasonable. It makes sense, that resume got a second look because they had a good explanation. Maybe your significant other was in the service and you had to move around a lot or they were jobs from a temp agency. Tell me and save your chance at that interview.

Okay, that's a quick list of resume killers. Good luck in your job hunt!

Resume Killers

Some resumes kill themselves as soon as I open the document. Here's the list -

• 
  WRITE THE WHOLE THING IN CAPITALS
• Capitals in the digital world represents SHOUTING. It's annoying to read and makes the resume hard to read.
• Not bullet-ing your job responsibilities 
• Long run on lines of print slows down my process. I have between 30 to 50 resumes to get through in a addition to the phone calls and interviews I have scheduled for that day. Give me a clear, easy to read bullet-ed list.
• Give me the facts
• Don't say you were the best salesman in the region, tell me your stats. I want to see exactly what you did to be the "best" salesman, technician, or office worker
• Make your list count
• I see a lot of resumes that just give me the name of the place you worked. Yeah? So what? Show me what you did there in that bullet-ed list. Think about your day to day tasks and start there. Show me your skills
• Don't forget your dates
• If you list where you worked with no dates I have no idea if you worked there two days or two years. Show me you have staying power in the jobs

Next up? The phone call and how important it is in getting that job.