Is your resume keeping you from landing a good job?

Recruiters and Hiring Managers are constantly sorting through resumes. Many resumes will be passed up right away; not all will be from candidates who are not qualified. Having an unprofessional resume could be hurting your chances of landing the position of your dreams.

If you know you are qualified for the position and are not receiving replies, you may want to take a look at your resume. If used correctly, your resume will be the tool that will get you one step closer to that dream job.

Here are 5 things you should check for:

Typos

There is nothing worse than receiving a resume that has highly visible mistakes. If an applicant has typos on their resume (a document in which they had all the time in the world to triple check for errors), then how many mistakes would be present in an email that has to get out in 5 minutes? No matter the level of position, the company will not want to hire an employee who will be sending incorrect information or misspelled data.

Your resume is too eye catching

There really is a fine line between originality and unprofessionalism. When something is considered “professional” it is because it has been widely accepted by the professional world. If you are trying to get noticed in this professional world you need to act the part. So be careful not to overstep the boundaries too much; personal touches are a good thing if they are done with tact and moderation.

You have a weird email address

There are too many free email hosting sites for you to list an email address like johnroxmysox4124 on your resume. Doing so screams to the Hiring Manager that you do not care about your professional image. Sign up for a new email account that you can use for your job search. Try using your name in the address to keep it simple. For example use JohnDoe837.

A resume needs information

Dates and titles are not enough information to convince an employer you will be worth their time to interview. It tells them the opposite in fact; if you are not willing to tell them about your work history, skills and experience then you are not worth their time. Resumes should be used to display your skills and experience in a clear and concise manner. Elaborate on the things you are good at and your accomplishments, but keep it short and to the point.

No formatting

Information on your resume is important, but so is the formatting. If a resume is hard to read through, it won’t be read. It is daunting to read a wall of text. If you have a lot of skills and accomplishments you may not want to include them all, instead customizing your resume for each position. Search to find the skills and personality traits that are most important to the company you are applying for and include those. Make sure to keep your resume clean, to the point, and full of relevant information.