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.