Top Reasons Your Resume Is Not Working

Perhaps it's not what is on your resume but what isn't that needs a little help.

Wonder why you aren’t getting called for a job interview? It may have a whole lot more to do with your resume than you know.

It’s easy to access that old file and update with your latest job information, but have you ever wondered if your resume is out of touch? Still using an objective statement? Perhaps it’s not what is on your resume but what isn’t that needs a little help.

If you are getting little to no response on your resume, it’s probably not you; it’s your resume that “sucks,” says professional resume writer Debra Wheatman on the Resume-Resource blog. There is a whole lot more to a resume than a listing of your job responsibilities and dates. Wheatman gives it to us straight (edited from her blog post):

1. Your Resume Is Not Results Oriented

If you don’t reference how you drove productivity, revenue, profitability, or added value – some type of value, you will not be successful!

Make sure you provide the reader with the juicy details of how you added value for your employer. Here are a few examples to help you get started:

• Drafted a full business plan, including the financial forecast to open a new profit center for the company, resulting in a 40% revenue increase in year one.
• Conceptualized and implemented a team training concept, which reduced production downtime by 35% and increased employee productivity by 50%.

2. You Don’t Have Core Competencies Called Out

This section is critical; it shows the reader at a quick glance what you bring to the table and what you have accomplished in the past.

It can be a bulleted list of key words that when scanned by a person or a system will be easily identified as your key attributes.

3. You Have Grammar and Spelling Mistakes

Of course use spell check. You should also read your resume backwards, yes, backwards to help you catch errors. I also recommend identifying a friend or family member that is rock solid with English grammar and spelling.

4. Your Presentation Is Awful

Do your dates line up? Do lines roll to a second or third page? Consistent and an aesthetically pleasing presentation will help your resume shine. This demonstrates attention to detail – an all-important characteristic. If your resume looks sloppy, what will the hiring manager think?

5. You Still Have an Objective Statement

You need to offer up information about what you bring to the company – not what you want them to do for you.

Instead, start your resume off with a compelling summary. This is 6-7 sentences about what you offer. Since you don’t have a lot of time to make an impact, reference things that are unique – things where you made a sustainable impact. You can even show metrics in your summary to quickly demonstrate the value that you offer. Your summary is your overview about your key attributes peppered with an example or two to make a swift impact.

In the article “The Resume Litmus Test,” professional resume writer Donald Burns suggests that many resumes are overloaded with “business-ese,” not conversational English. Here’s a before-and-after example:

“Business-ese” (43 words)

• Performed multiple tasks between various clients generating 50% greater capacity and sustainability by engineering ITIL based technology capabilities and aligning resources with the organization’s strategic advantage. Managed and utilized procedures, policies and guidelines resulting to positive effect in efficiency as much as 100%.

Conversational English (23 words)

• Increased network scalability 50% for Acme Corp. by designing and implementing a new platform based on Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and related standards.

Most of us think the wordy version is what people want to read. In fact, the best move is to simplify, focusing on the key results and the qualities that set you apart from others. Write it clearly, but keep it differentiated.

(Missing by striatic via Flicrk, CC3.0)

For more on resume advice:

• How Many Resume Versions Are Too Many?
• Accentuate the Positive In Your Resume
• Measuring Results in an IT Consulting Resume
• The Resume Litmus Test

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