Common Resume Mistakes and Best Practices
Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at 10:43AM Your resume should paint a picture of a well-qualified candidate who can bring immediate results to the civilian workplace. It should focus on your skills, achievements, and qualifications, and communicate why you are the best candidate for a position. The items below highlight common mistakes that should be avoided, as well as best practices.
Misspellings and grammatical errors
First and foremost, errors like this say nothing good about your ability to pay attention to detail, and they make a poor first impression. Suppose, for example, your resume says you are a wearhouse supervisor. This type of error begs the question: “Is this person who has such a poor grasp of basic spelling capable of leading a team?” Consider too what it says about your lack of attention to detail. As a veteran, attention to detail is a trait you can proudly represent – so make sure your resume and cover letter do so.
Similarly, if this isn’t your first job out of the service, it is never a good idea to misspell the name of a past employer that has signed your paychecks (example: JANE’S PEI EMPORIUM, when you really worked at JANE’S PIE EMPORIUM).
Remember, too, that the spell check feature on your computer may catch a misspelling, but does not catch and correct context errors. For example, it will not catch “Thank you for yours consideration” because technically, all the words are spelled correctly. Proofread it, and then have someone else proofread it!
Inconsistent dates
Your dates must match up and be in order. There shouldn’t be any gaps.
Recruiting Station Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH Sept. 2006 – Feb. 2009
Golf Battery, 3rd Battalion, 11th Marines, Camp Pendleton, CA May 2003 – Dec. 2005
An employer could wonder, “What were you doing between January and August of 2006?” Worse still, the employer may disqualify you from consideration without ever asking.
Unflattering e-mail addresses
Always think about the e-mail address you put on your resume. If your current e-mail is cannonshooter@hmail.com, consider creating another address just for resumes. Make it a plain e-mail address. You should also clean up your MySpace, Linkedin, and Facebook pages. They say a lot about you, and employers check them!
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Reader Comments (3)
These are fabulous tips, one who isn't aware of these tips can really work on it make the best possible benefit of this system.
Good tips you have given!I have recently completed my graduation and i m searching job that's why your these resume tips are so helpful for me.Thanks.Keep up posting such articles.
hoodia
reputation management
Ya It's awesome Tips. I have many mates and they were doing same mistakes in Resume.I have seen many resume the most common thing between them is They wrote Unusual things in resume. They always want to show a lengthy resume.