10 common resume mistakes to avoid

What are some common resume mistakes you see all the time? originally appeared on Quora: the place to acquire and share knowledge, enabling people to learn from others and better understand the world.

Reply by Noah Gramitt, Social Media Coordinator at Wonsulting, the Quora:

Here are 10 things we are constantly helping our clients with.

Solving these issues will lead to a drastic increase in your CV level!

1. Lack of clear titles

Hiring managers rely on your resume layout (header and section headers) to find relevant information. As such, vague or long titles can make your resume difficult to understand. For best results, keep your resume titles simple, short, and noteworthy (underlined or in bold).

2. A unique approach

While it’s essential to have a master resume (a repository for all of your business information), you should also have different resumes for different purposes. The CV for a writing job, for example, should be different from that of a social media job. Targeting a CV for an opportunity by including only relevant details describes you as someone willing to go the extra mile.

3. An “objective” section

So you have dedicated a CV section to explain how you are looking for a position that will develop your managerial skills? How phenomenal. Unfortunately, that doesn’t tell an employer anything positive about your job skills. And so, an objective section is as useless as water in a basket. Replace it with a professional summary that presents your value proposition in 1-3 lines.

4. Use of personal pronouns in your experiments

Examining the 30 CVs, I noticed the repeated use of personal pronouns [“I,†“my,†“me]. The rationale for this was, “but the CV is about me, isn’t it?” Indeed, the CV is yours, but it is meant to act as an impersonal description of your professional makeup. Keep your resume focused on business by removing any pronouns or personal items.

5. List each certificate online

There was a particular resume that listed all of the online courses the owner had taken. 10 courses, to be precise. Normally this should be a helpful gesture as it portrays the individual as a lifelong learner. Unfortunately, this was not the case. It turned out that most of the courses listed were not useful for the targeted position, and I advised him to delete them. Likewise, remove irrelevant or entry-level certificates from your resume. List only those credentials that have taught you valuable skills applicable to the potential job.

6. Cite Microsoft Suite as a skill

When you list Microsoft Office in the skills section, the employer automatically assumes that you can create formulas in Excel, merge emails, and create automated “rules” in Outlook. Unless you can, remove Microsoft Office from your resume and place specific platforms you know in Microsoft Office instead. Otherwise, your low level of Microsoft Office proficiency may be exposed at the interview stage or at work.

7. Grammatical blunders

A resume full of mistakes can prevent you from being interviewed. “But a spelling mistake or a typo doesn’t determine my expertise,†you might say. Yes, that does not decide your competence. However, this characterizes you as someone who doesn’t pay attention to detail – a red flag for business. According to Fast Company, 75% of employers said they would reject a candidate if they found grammatical errors or typos in the resume.

8. Lies

Some candidates lied on their resumes in an attempt to impress recruiters or make up for their inexperience. While you can be creative when writing a resume, you shouldn’t channel your creativity into lies or embellishments. Soon, your lies often catch up with you at the interview stage or while you are at work, which can lead to termination. Instead of lying, cover your professional gaps by updating your skills, taking on more volunteer roles, and managing more projects (and even freelance ones).

9. Bad formatting

Formatting elements like the size of the margin can make your CV confusing (if it’s too small) and bland (if it’s too small). When you make any of these mistakes, an employer may be forced to question your ability. “If this candidate can’t properly format her CV, wouldn’t tasks requiring strong organizational skills be too much for her?” ” Make the margins of your resume an inch on all sides to ensure excellent formatting.

10. Poorly organized employment history

When you don’t organize your past positions in reverse chronological order, your resume reads like a sleight of hand for the recruiter, preventing them from seeing your point of view. To be on the safe side, start with your most recent position and work your way back, or focus on your skills and pair them with relevant experience.

That question originally appeared on Quora – the place to acquire and share knowledge, enabling people to learn from others and better understand the world.