Over the past five years as a professional resume writer I have worked with hundreds of job seekers wondering, “Why aren’t I getting called for any interviews?” Follow me over the next seven weeks as I cover the top seven deadly resume mistakes that may be costing you the job.
Mistake #1- Not tailoring your resume towards each and every position you apply for.
There is a reason this is the #1 mistake, because it is the most common resume problem I see among job seekers. Now I admit, picking out keywords and customizing your resume this can be a tedious task. But with 95% of companies using Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), or the “robots” reading your resume, it’s absolutely essential to ensure you beat the ATS. These systems are designed to weed out thousands of resumes every day. With so many people competing for the same job, this is the only way employers can sift through such a large quantity of resumes. In fact, 88% of resumes never make it to an actual human being, because they aren’t properly tailored towards the job.
Of course, these systems aren’t perfect, and even a strong resume may be kicked out if there is even a slight issue in formatting. To ensure your resume is ATS proof, you need to know what format can confuse the system. Furthermore, if you don’t have the minimum keywords from the job description in your resume, the applicant tracking system will determine that you are unqualified, even if you are one of the best candidates. For more detail on how to pick out keywords, check out my article, “4 Steps to Ensure Your Resume is On-Target.”
If you don’t have the time or experience picking out those keywords and tailoring your resume, consider investing in a professional resume writer who can show you how to include these crucial keywords/phrases so that both a robot and a human being can easily interpret your qualifications.
For a free consultation to find out of your resume is costing you the job, send me a copy of your resume on LinkedIn or email me at cassiecareerconfidence@gmail.com. Invest in your future and cut your job seeking and spend more time focusing on the most important part of your job search, networking.
Next week I will cover the importance of including quantifiable data in your resume to ensure you stand-out among the competition.