Are you submitting hundreds of resumes to job openings found on the internet or that are recommended by friends and family members, but have not gotten any responses? If so, there could be an issue or two with your resume. When this is the case, you need to take a long look at the resume and begin to make edits or rewrite it completely. We have some reasons why your resume is killing your chances of getting hired in this post.
Lack of a Personal Brand
Resumes that do not have a personal brand on them will fail at securing you an offer of employment. Your personal brand shows employers how you market yourself as an employee. This includes any skills or traits you have and why they would be a perfect fit not only for the company, but also for the job available.
Objective Statement is Old School
Resumes that still have objective statements on them are out-of-date. Objective statements only say that you want to acquire a job. You need to remove this from your resume immediately and insert a personal statement that defines your brand. This needs to tell the employer what you bring to the table and how it will benefit their company.
Filler Words are Killers
A resume that is filled with fluff or filler words will likely be discarded by the employer. Filler words make you sound good and like an excellent worker, but they do not get down to the heart of the employee. Instead of writing that you have exceeded expectations, you need to provide an example to the employer of why this happened.
Duties and Responsibilities are the Main Focus
Whenever you make duties and responsibilities of former jobs the main focus on your resume, the more likely it is that the resume will be tossed by potential employers. Even though bullet points are welcome on a resume, they should not include all of the duties you have had at previous jobs. You need to remove this from your resume and insert a format such as challenge-action-result. You need to name a challenge you have faced, talk about the action taken and then describe the result from that action in order to impress potential employers.
Failure to Highlight Accomplishments
Any resume that does not highlight your professional accomplishments will not get noticed by potential employers. Your accomplishments from work need to be in the top third of the resume because this is what the employer looks at the most.
Facts and Figures are Missing
When you mention your accomplishments, you need to support these with facts and figures. Provide dollar amounts or percentages to show the employers how you improved business at your company.
The next time you sit down to submit a resume, take a long look at it to make sure nothing from this post is affecting how it is being read by employers.