re: Eight Résumé Blunders That Can Cost You a Job

jbkalla — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 03:48:09 GMT

Another thing I'd like to add: Make your resume only one page if at all possible! Unless you've been in the field for 20yrs, nobody wants to hear about your irrelevant crap. I read somewhere that the average HR person reviews a resume for about 10-30 secs. That means: Put the most relevant information first. Most hiring managers aren't even going to bother with the second page, unless you're in the running and it contains your references.

Of course, most of the people on this site are young, so finding something to fill a page will probably be a challenge!

And don't use a font lower than 12pt. Maybe 11pt if you're trying to stretch it a bit. Stay away from fancy papers and fonts. Use an easy to read font on BRIGHT WHITE paper! Bold the important parts or subjects. Have a friend proof-read it by glancing at it for a few seconds to get an idea of whether you're getting your point across or not.

The spelling point is a really good one. I see more misspellings in people's resumes than anything else. If you can't spell, get a smart friend to look it over. Hell, you should do that anyway! It's amazing how many Federal documents I've found while serving in the US Army that are misspelled! :-)