Putting together a resume can be overwhelming and when you think about how this single document may determine whether or not you get an interview, it can be terrifying.

On the latest interview on ATS Career Radio, Mike Levy from The Career Academy joined us to share some resume do's and don'ts.   During the show, Mike answers some mysteries about resumes including:

• How long should your resume be?
• Should you use a professional summary or an objective?
• What should an objective say?
• Where should you place your contact information?
• If you didn't graduate from college, how do you list your education?
• Should you include personal information such as hobbies?
• What are keywords and how important are they when placing your resume on the internet?

I am sitting at my desk going through a stack of resumes for our Outside Sales Representative position.   Here are a few major blunders I am seeing over and over:

• Leave off the pictures - I'm not sure if people are looking for ways to write-off the new digital camera they bought for Christmas.  Photos on your resume, unless you are applying to be a TV personality or model, is not a good idea.  It opens you up to possible discrimination and looks very unprofessional.  
• Do not input ridiculous salary expectations into resumes online.   Many people, who I think are trying to be funny, put things like $450,000 or $1,000 per hour.  Potential employers use this as a search tool and you run the risk of not coming up in searches for jobs which may interest you.  Be sincere and pick a true target salary range.
• Leave off the personal information.  I just read a resume which states "married with 3 beautiful children, 2 grandchildren and a cat."  This information is irrelevant to the job search and takes up space where they could have highlighted their professional strengths.  On another resume, it stated "I was out of work between the years of 2001 and 2003 due to a nervous breakdown and treatment."  Clearly, this sort of information should be left off the resume and out of the employment discussion altogether.  
• Finally, Do not put personal pleas on your resume!  The first one I picked up tonight says in huge letters at the top "I am BEGGING for a job to start right now.....PLEASE, no long process."   Wow.  This is a new one. 

This week on ATS Career Radio we invited Kim Boulahanis in from Health Integrated to help us talk about common interviewing mistakes.  While we covered enough to write a book, I thought I'd share a few highlights:

Don't bring guests, spouses, significant others, kids, uncles, cousins or pets to your interview!   They should stay in the car or out of sight.   Just today, we had a candidate come in escorted by her father.   Not only is this weird but it can make it uncomfortable for both the candidate and the interviewer.  Like going to the bathroom, interviewing is one of those things better done on your own.

Always wear a suit.  Not matter what position you are interviewing for, a suit is almost always impressive.  This goes for guys and ladies.  Think conservative, not only with the outfit, but with your make-up, hair, perfume and jewelry.  No basketball-sized earrings or face jewelry please.

Leave the cell phone in the car.   I know I covered this in another post but yesterday I had a candidate who brought her cell phone into the interview and it rang not once, not twice but NINE times!   She answered it twice!   This is simply unacceptable.  Don't even run the risk of the "vibration" interrupting the interview.  It is not worth it.  Leave it in the car with your guests.

We talked about so many different things including tips on what to bring with you to the interview, how to prepare and we talked about other pitfalls to avoid.  Give ATS Career Radio a listen at www.atscareerradio.com. 

Any other common interviewing mistakes to avoid?  I'd love to hear them at billf@atstampa.com .

This morning at my daughter's school I was greeted with a giant, computer printed sign taped to the door saying "please finish your cell phone conversation before entering the school." As I walked to her classroom, these signs were posted all down the hallway. After I dropped her off, I pulled into the McDonald's drive thru to get a coffee and noticed a HUGE, ENORMOUS sign saying "please do not use your cell phone in the drive thru." Come to think of it, there were three of them!

One would think its common sense not to be walking our children down the hall of their school while talking on a cell phone. If the school is forced to post signs everywhere asking people to refrain, apparently it's not.

This made me think I should post my own sign to candidates who may go on an interview in the near future to remind them NOT to take their cell phone with them into the interview.   There is nothing more inconsiderate and annoying to an interviewer than to have a cellphone ring in the middle of an interview.  It's almost as bad to have  a phone "vibrate" through an interview as well.  My suggestion is to leave your phone in the car or turn it off.  

Truth is this goes for those doing the interviewing as well as candidates although I don't recommend you walk into your job interview with a sign saying "please turn off your cell phone during my interview."   Some things are better left up to common sense.

A colleague of mine shared a story about a candidate this week who was 30 minutes late to a 2nd interview with the hiring manager. Prior to this incident, the candidate was at the top of the list for the job. Due to tardiness, the candidate was declined a 2nd interview. It just didn't make a good impression on the employer.

This may seem obvious to some but unfortunately it seems to happen too often. Never, never, never be late to a job interview. In most cases, this will guarantee you won't get the job.

Avoid this situation with these simple steps: 

1. Get directions using Mapquest or Google Maps.
2. Drive to the interview location a day in advance.   Time the drive, look for parking and make note of any challenges you may have (bridges, rush hour, walking distance from parking, etc).  This preparatory drive will give you confidence on interview day.
3. Plan to arrive to the interview at least a half-hour to an hour early.  You don't have to go in for the interview this early but this way you'll leave extra time in case something comes up.
4. If you ARE running late, call as soon as you know you may be late and let the interviewer know. Don't wait until 15 minutes past the interview time.  Defintely call BEFORE the scheduled interview time.

Most interviewers note the time a candiate arrived for an interview and take it into account when making a decision.   Being early shows you are prepared and you are serious about the opportunity.

All job searches start with the notorious resume.  Years ago, we used to type up our one and only resume, go to the copy store and make thousands of copies on “resume” paper with cute matching envelopes.   If you’re still doing this, boy it’s been a long time since you’ve looked for a job.  In today’s world, you should have several versions of your resume and be constantly tweaking it for each and every job you apply for.  Ironically, we now print very few resumes and if you do print it out, its perfectly acceptable to hand it out in normal white copy paper.  There are hundreds of books on writing resumes.  Here are some highlights from our on-air conversation (www.atscareerradio.com:

Obviously, the first thing you do in a resume is to put your name in big letters at the top.  Then, make sure you have up-to-date contact info on the page.   Make this obvious and big.   I can’t tell you how many resumes I see where someone got creative and wrote the phone number at the bottom of the page in tiny letters.  Make it simple and easy. 

Double-check your contact info and make sure you have a professional e-mail address.  Do not use things like sexymama@bob.com  or dumblonde@com.com .   Take the time to think about your entire marketing package.  Everything represents you.   This goes for voicemails too!  Make sure your voice mail is professional.   I called an applicant the other day for a customer service position whose voicemail said in a drone tone “Hi.  Leave a message and if I like what you say, I might call you back.”  Needless to say, this did not make a positive customer service impression.

The length of your resume is not as important as the content.  Just make sure you’re not writing a novel.  Generally one to two pages is preferred.  

Some argue that objectives are outdated and a waste of space on a resume due to their generic nature.  Nicole suggested using a “professional summary” in place of an objective.  This allows you to paint a brief picture of your background and what you’re looking to achieve.   I think this is a great idea.   Update this section specifically for each job you apply for.  

Most job searches are done on the internet and the internet is all about “keywords!”  These are the words entered by the person searching in the “search” box.  For example, if you’re looking for a receptionist job, you want to make sure words associated with a receptionist are on your resume.  In this case, we’re talking about words like “receptionist, answering phones, greeting guests, front desk, etc.”   Be careful about getting cute with job titles.   Its better to use “receptionist” rather than “first impressions engineer” to make sure it picks up in searches.

Typical sections include:

• Objective / Professional Summary
• Summary of Qualifications / Skills
• Professional Experience
• Education
• References

Summary of Qualifications is a great place to make sure those keywords are on your resume.  Use this area to list, in bullet form, your software proficiency, any special skills or qualifications. 

In Professional Experience, list your previous jobs, from most recent to oldest.   Don’t waste space listing complete addresses, phone numbers and previous supervisors.  Also, never list your salary or reasons for leaving on your resume.  You’ll have a chance to share this info when you fill out the company’s employment application.   Do not use the word “I” when listing your job responsibilities.   Used “supervised staff” rather than “I supervised staff.”  

When it comes to references, I’m a big believer of putting your references on your resume.  I think you should be so proud of what you’ve done that you’re happy to invite others to call your references.  Sometimes the references you list can be impressive in themselves.   If you’re not comfortable with putting references on the resume, then I would suggest you do NOT use the words “references available upon request.”   This is stating the obvious.

Nicole pointed out the importance of proofreading your resume especially posting it online!  A simple typo can make or break it many times.

HOT TIP:   When posting your resume on the internet, make a list of all of the job boards you’ve posted it on and include the password information.  This way when you need to make a change, you can go right down your list and keep it up to date.   Its so easy to forget where you posted it.

If you’re looking for resume writing resources as well as a list of internet job boards, visit our website at www.atstampa.com and click on “ATS Career Center.”  You comments are always welcome at billf@atstampa.com .

Here's a good lesson to share from today. We had a candidate who interviewed with a client. This candidate has the right skills, the right experience and even the right personality. The one thing holding this candidate back from actually getting the job is what the person wore to the interview.

Picture this....you're interviewing with the Senior Partner of a huge, world known financial firm. What would you wear? A suit is the correct answer. Anything else is simply unacceptable. Quite frankly, for any position in the business world, a suit is always the success dress of choice. This goes for men and women. It's conservative, respectful and always in style. If you are serious about getting a new job, then invest in a suit. You don't have to spend alot of money to get one. Discount stores and even second hand stores will have a nice selection to use for interviewing.

Our candidate today decided a suit wasn't necessary. She opted for nice slacks and a blouse suitable for a night out on the town. While she hasn't been ruled out yet, she's definitely hanging on by a fine line. I know you may think this seems like a superficial comment on her dress, but the executive who interviewed her said her lack of poor judgement on what to wear to make a solid and professional first impression is concerning.

When interviewing, why leave anything to chance? Take pride in yourself and show your potential new employer you're serious. Wear a suit!!

What do you think?