Your Resume SUCKS!

Your Resume Sucks

By: Jacob Darr

 

Let’s face it: your resume probably sucks. 

 

Don’t beat yourself up about it, though. The trends for hiring and human resource expectations have changed drastically over the years. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported for several years, now, that hiring is booming. This is a great opportunity for job seekers to find the right corporate culture for their future success.

 

But you have to punch up that resume, first.

 

Your Resume Sucks Because It’s Formatted In the HR Stone Age

 

Chances are, there are several areas of your resume that need to be formatted for contemporary practices and expectations in human resources. 

 

Research shows that the average person reviewing resumes for potential job candidates will spend no more than 6 second looking through your details if you have things formatted in an unused format of resume building.

 

Ask yourself a few questions, as you comb over your resume for potential black holes:

 

Am I still using an Objective, rather than a Professional Summary?

 

Have I listed positions irrelevant to the job I am applying for, such as my part-time job as that Burger King Drive Thru Cashier, way back in my senior year in high school?

 

Or what about blathering on about my educational qualifications… have I done this, rather than focus on a summary of qualifications and a highlight reel of professional achievements? 

 

The good news is that even though your resume is less-than-great now, some simple tweaks and a new focus can set you above the rest, and get you more time with the person on the other end reviewing the applicants.

 

Clean Up Your Resume By Bringing It Up To Speed

 

The first thing you need to do to bring your resume up to speed is to clean up your verbiage and verbosity.

 

Sure, hiring is booming and unemployment is down, which is good news for job-seekers of all kinds. But it also means that the competition is going to be of higher quality, and expectations of human resource departments are going to be rooted in the newest and most efficient trends.

 

Cut the fat out of your resume: extra words, wordy sentences, typos, grammatical errors, irrelevant details, boring descriptions, repetition of the job description you are applying for (instead of what you bring to the company), and way more detail about your hobbies than anyone wants to know, are among the things that you have to consider cutting.

 

Now, bring your resume into the present tense by forgetting your objectives and paring down your laborious past job descriptions. Instead, opt for a professional summary of what you bring to the table. What qualities do you have professionally that fit well with both the job you are applying and the overall company mission? Also, consider adding in some of your more recent professional achievements that potential employers will find an asset to their corporate future.

 

It isn’t always easy to get a foot in the door of your dream job. The good news is that managing your resume, and making sure it is a representation of who you are and why you are the right fit for the position is likely just a few edits away.