Is Your Resume Holding You Back?

If you’re not getting calls or responses to your applications, chances are very high that your resume isn’t helping you.  And if you haven’t written your resume in many years, it’s likely very far out of date and you could be invisible to newer ATS (applicant tracking systems).

Optimized resumes help you stand out from a vast sea of people also competing for the same job. So, if you haven’t done so already, it’s time to ask yourself…how optimized is your resume?

Your resume gets a 5-second glance.

As a corporate recruiter for some major Fortune 100 companies, I can attest that we get a lot of resumes. It’s quite common to get 200 to well over 1000 applications for a role. That doesn’t even include anyone that I source myself. So if your resume isn’t a top-notch, well-oiled machine it’s highly likely that I won’t notice you. Heck, I might not even see your resume at all.

I give the average resume a 5-second glance. If I don’t see what I’m looking for almost instantly, you’ll end up in the “no” pile. It happens that quickly.

So your goal is to make me stop, take a closer look, and read further into your resume. I know exactly what I’m looking for with each role I recruit. Because it’s exactly what the hiring manager is looking for. We screen for profiles that have the highest chances of successfully making it through the interview process.

There are ways to make it past me if you know how to set up your resume properly.

How optimized is your resume?

Well-optimized resumes take on many aspects. Aesthetics, design, font choice, titles, summaries, keywords, layout choices, and much more. If any one of these aspects is off, you may be hurting your chances of getting noticed.

Optimizing your resume isn’t something you do just once and think you’re done. It’s a skill that you’ll carry with you and continue to use. Depending on what role I apply to, I’ve been known to optimize my own resume each time I find a job I’m interested in. So learn to optimize your resume if you’re serious about results.

How old is your resume?

If you haven’t written your resume (or re-written it) in more than a year, it’s likely pretty outdated. It’s also not helping your job search. Most people take an old resume and continually update it as the years go by.

What happens is that you end up with a disjointed resume that makes little sense. Often these resumes are bloated and contain formatting errors. You just end up with a “Frankenstein resume” that does very little to help you get more interviews

Write your resume from scratch – do not recycle an old one

My recommendation is to start from scratch – ditch the outdated resume and start over. Trust me, your older resume is likely hurting your chances of getting the interview.

As a rule of thumb, if you are not getting interviews and you are reasonably qualified for the jobs you’re applying to, your resume is almost always the problem.

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If you’re not sure your resume is standing out from the crowd, here’s some suggestions on how to improve.

Make It Simple And Easy to read

If your resume is poorly formatted, I’m not going to take the time or effort to read it. Just being honest. I’ll just reject it and move to the next one.

What does a poorly formatted resume look like?

• Long blocks of text with no paragraph breaks.
• Hard to read fonts or crazy colors. Stick to black text.
• Margins are cluttered – use some white space!
• Spelling and/or grammar mistakes

A long block of text with no paragraph breaks is just hard to read. I’m sure you’ve seen it on the internet. Someone writes a post and puts no paragraph breaks in. It’s lazy and makes you have to work harder to follow along. It’s inconsiderate to the reader. Not to mention you shouldn’t be writing long blocks of text on your resume, to begin with.

Font Choices

Fonts should be easy to read too. Don’t use that cutesy handwritten font you found on the internet because you think it shows off your personality. Unless you’re going for a unique job, stick to something safe.

The same goes for color. Don’t use pinks, purples, greens, or any other unusual font color. Black is the safest bet.

The human eye likes symmetry and balance. Having narrow margins messes with that. Use the proper margins to avoid making it seem too busy.

Spelling and grammar mistakes are a big no-no.

If your resume has a grammar or spelling mistake, it will be held against you. At best you’ll be judged as sloppy and lacking attention to detail. At worst, you’ll be judged as uneducated. With spell-check readily available, take a few mins to run a check before you submit your resume.

Quality over Quantity

Recruiters prefer to see resumes that list out major accomplishments instead of routine tasks. We don’t need to know everything you’ve ever done in your career. Focus on those major projects, achievements, and milestones instead.

Do not cut and paste your last job description. That just lists out tasks for the role. If I need to know more about specific task experience, I’ll ask you.

Again focus on the key highlights of your career, not the amount of stuff you did.

Build your resume for the role

The days of having one resume you use for all roles are in the past. Get in the habit of creating a new resume for each specific job you are applying for. That way you can customize it to match the job, highlighting the aspects of your career that most closely match what the hiring authority is looking for. By doing so you’ll give yourself the best shot at being noticed.

Remember, you’re looking for any advantage you can get.

It can be tedious to create a new resume each time, but it’s well worth the effort if one of those resumes lands you a new job!

Experiment!

If you’re finding that you’re not getting much activity on your resume, try experimenting. Change up your titles. Try a different layout. Maybe revise your accomplishments. Emphasis more relevant work and focus less on older accomplishments. Highlight different skills.

The point is to try new things. If something isn’t working, don’t stick with it. This doesn’t mean you should change your resume each time an employer doesn’t call you back. But use judgment and a critical eye to examine what works well and what isn’t.

It’s all about finding that perfect balance.

Keep in mind that job searches can routinely take 6 months or longer, so don’t get discouraged or frustrated by a lack of results. Just the fact that you’re reading this right now shows that you’re willing to take the necessary steps to address what’s not working.

Take some time to review and revise your resume and you’re going to notice a positive result.

If you find you’re still struggling to get traction, I’d encourage you to visit the rest of my site www.alifeafterlayoff.com. I’ve got tons of free resources there. Also, join my Facebook community and get questions answered by a community of people just like you.