Flickr user Brandi Redd
We currently live in a digital world and this digital era can prove to be quite helpful in quite a lot of situations. For example, the professional environment has drastically changed over the last few years.
Nowadays, business professionals and not only, are using many types of digital tools in order to improve their professional efforts. One of them is LinkedIn; with this awesome social media network, you can create a professional online CV and network as much as you want. Other social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook are also a good choice for people who want to expand their services and their brand’s or personal awareness.
Even though everything’s changing, our resumes still hold a great deal of importance when it comes to obtaining our dream jobs. And this applies especially if you’re a student!
It’s still one of the most important factors that employers look at when making their hiring decisions, so if you’re a student, making sure that your resume is professional is one of the keys to your career success.
During today’s article, we’ll take a look at seven common resume mistakes that students from all over the place tend to commit. If you find any of these mistakes within your resume, we’d highly advise you to start improving it!
1. Providing the Wrong Information
Whenever you craft your resume, we’d highly suggest that you pay close attention to whatever information you’re giving away. Your contact information must be correct, the jobs and the dates must be legit, and the skills you showcase must really reflect your attitudes.
Resumes aren’t supposed to be a place where you lie in order to impress. Instead, they should be genuine and trustworthy. It’s the only way you can make sure that everything’s going to run smoothly whenever you get an interview. As a student, you should start adopting the right practices when dealing with your first jobs.
2. Grammar and Spelling Mistakes
A resume filled with grammar mistakes will simply be considered trash. The level of professionalism required nowadays, especially if you’re looking for a decent job, is quite high. If your resume has grammar, spelling, or punctuation mistakes, it will just reflect how much of a professional you are. It will also dramatically impact your chances of getting that job you’ve been looking for!
In order to stay sharp and professional, you have to proofread your resume more than once. Ask someone else to do this for you; a fresh pair of eyes will always be beneficial for finding grammar mistakes. When you’re in college or university, you have a lot of friends that can help you get through with this process.
You can also choose to outsource the proofreading and editing. We often recommend CareersBooster for professional and affordable proofreading.
3. Not Personalizing Your Resume
Every job is different; you can’t just have a general template and send it to all of the job positions you’re applying for. In order to raise your chances of success, you should do your homework about the specific jobs you’re trying to land. Showcase your most relevant skills and show them that you did your homework before applying.
4. Writing a Resume Without an Objective
Like with many things in life, having a purpose in mind whenever you craft your resume is important. You must realize that an employer or recruiter often looks for someone who can show them that they’re fit for their needs. Your resume often speaks who you are, what you’re good at, and why you’d be a good match for them.
When you’re in college you can’t show a lot of jobs history, so it’s better to focus on your qualities and traits, and also on the reasons for which you can make a difference.
If your resume content is showing the reasons, at the end of the resume you should make sure that your point has been made. You can choose to use Resume by Canva, which is a collection of professional resume templates that you can use in order to get better results.
5. Not Displaying Your Biggest Assets
Being modest helps with many things in life, but it’s not beneficial when developing a professional resume. When employers are taking a look at what options they have, they’re often going to look after people with skills and relevant assets that might help the company grow faster.
Start displaying your biggest traits and skills and show how relevant and helpful you can be for their business.
6. Making Your Resume Too Long
Be aware of the fact that every recruiter has more choices, and it’s his or her job to read and analyze more than just one resume. That means that the employer’s attention is often split between your resume and other’s.
It’s just like with college professions; they have to go through lots of tests and papers before reaching yours; their attention is limited, and so is the employer’s.
If you want to be efficient, try not boring the interviewer with useless information. All that your resume needs to contain is relevant content that speaks about how professional and skilled you are, all in rapport with the specific job position.
7. Vague Information
Employers like to see concrete information. If you are adding abstract terms and explanations, you’ll definitely lose their attention. Therefore, your chance of landing that desired job is going to decrease. In order to avoid that, you must stick to the point and offer concrete facts and information.
Nowadays, modern employees prefer using infographics and visual posters as a new format of professional CV. These new resumes are usually more concrete and focused on the key elements of your professional image. You can use Easel.ly in order to create neat and professional resume infographics.
Conclusion
You just can’t afford to make resume mistakes; you just can’t! Having an optimized resume is going to improve your chances of landing that dream job you’ve been always looking for.
Try not to sabotage your unique opportunities by neglecting your CV. College and university give you enough time to focus on what’s necessary for your future. If there’s one thing you can do in order to get better hiring chances, it’s the look and the professionalism of your resume!
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