Common Mistakes To Avoid In Your Resume

I’m in the midst of preparing the content of a career talk to be held on this coming Wednesday and Thursday. One of the topics is about the mistakes that job seekers commonly make in constructing their resumes. Although the audience of the talk is fresh graduates, I realized many job seekers with experience still commit such mistakes.



The mistakes that recruiters had often come across are:-

• Overstate the truth in your resume (for example: if you were awarded the top student award for a subject, say Programming, mention that clearly rather than stating it as "Awarded the Top Student")

• Include negative information in your resume (for example: if you were not paid for a freelance job, you don't have to make the fact known in your resume. That should only be mentioned during interviews if the subject was ever brought up).


• Include hand written comments (in the hard copy such as amending the hand phone number or email address)

• Send supporting documents such as letter of recommendation, training certificates that were not required (Overwhelming the recruiter with stack of papers is never a good idea!)

• Not enough white space – text extends from margin to margin, and there are no blank lines between sections, paragraphs and bullets.

• A resume with spelling mistakes – this is most common! The least you want to achieve is to leave the impression that you are careless or not serious enough. Best advice: Get someone to proofread your resume- whether it’s going to be in soft or hard copy. If necessary, enlist the help of a friend with strong English skills to proofread your documents before printing and sending them out.