10 Signs You Need Help to Create a Professional Resume

One of the most crucial things while job hunting is having an impressive professional resume that can win the confidence of a prospective employer.

In a country where only three out of every 500 registered job-seekers secure employment, every job you apply for is like the only ray of light in a dark tunnel.

The first and foremost thing an employer looks at apart from your face is your resume and in case it’s an online job application, the resume is literally the only thing the employer has to consider you capable or otherwise for the job sought.

Evidently, one cannot afford to get rejected on the grounds of having a poor and unimpressive resume rather than having a professional resume.

No?

For all those who are having doubts, read on, you might find something helpful in creating a resume that follows the standard resume format; as for the rest, you are good to go job hunting!

Ninety-three per cent of recruiters depends solely on resumes to evaluate candidates.

This only goes on to reiterate the fact that you need a great and professional resume in order to land up with the right job!

Here are ten signs that scream out to you that you need to work on your resume immediately in order to be in line with the standard resume format and probably need help in having a professional resume:

1.) Unprofessional email addresses

You may be a Nadal fan or an F.R.I.E.N.D.S fan but if that reflects in your email address then all you are doing is showing the prospective recruiter that you are not very good at separating the personal from the professional.

Try avoiding email addresses like nadaljohn@gmail.com or riya@mondler.gmail.com. Your email address should contain nothing beyond your name, surname, and a few numbers if required and acts as a blocker in helping you have a professional resume.

2.) Outdated and irrelevant details

You might have been a very studious, competitive, and bright student while in school and college and might have won loads of awards and certificates but mentioning all of that from A-Z is really not required at this point.

One’s resume must focus on the achievements and activities engaged in the recent past instead of presenting a whole history.

Also, it is wise to be a little choosy in mentioning achievements in your professional resume.

Try to mention those which are most relevant for the position you have applied for.

Another thing you should attempt doing is making your resume reader-friendly. Writing big long paragraphs won’t please the recruiter, it would rather irritate him/her rather than pleasing them with a professional resume.

Remember the wise words of Israelmore Ayivor, “The attitude called precision is the quality that remarks the accuracy of your demand.”

Try keeping it confined to one page and make sure the recruiter is able to see what he needs to see within 6-7 seconds or you lose your chance of even being considered.

Always frame the resume with the job and the nature of the job in mind.

Home addresses used to be an important part of resumes but not anymore.

Mentioning one’s name, contact number and email address in more than enough in today’s time.

If you still mention your address then perhaps it’s about time that you consider updating your resume.

Just like mentioning your home address is pointless, so is the mention of the home number. Having a home number in this era is queer in the first place!

That column may well be off your resume. Instead of having home numbers and stuff, you can consider adding the links to your social media profiles, particularly LinkedIn as this gives the prospective recruiter some more grounds to judge your suitability for the job you seek.

If you still follow the resume pattern they taught you at school then you are in need of serious help my friend! References need not me mentioned these days unless specifically stated.

Remove that from your resume ASAP if you still happen to have it to have a professional resume.

3.) Presence of typos

“To err is human, to forgive is divine”, said Alexander Pope, but that doesn’t excuse you to make even the tiniest silly mistake or grammatical error in your resume.

Like already stated, you get only 6-7 seconds to win the heart of a prospective recruiter and you just can’t afford to make any such typos or errors that can attract the recruiter’s attention and thereby affect your chances at being hired!

Develop the habit of proofreading before submitting your resume in order to minimize the occurrence of any typos. Or else you can also use some external tools like Grammarly which are running nowadays for the same.

4.) Change of goals

A person who has found his true passion in life is considered fortunate.

Often people dislike their jobs because they don’t enjoy it as it involves being engaged in something that doesn’t interest you. And therefore, it’s not uncommon to have people who change tracks and shift from one field to the other.

And in case you happen to be one such person then changing particulars in your resume as per the profession you have newly won is vital to winning a decent job.

A professional resume must always be in line with the needs of the job sought.

5.) The dilemma of what to include

While we all do a lot of things in our life, there always remains the dilemma of which of those many countless things do we actually have to add in our resume?

Resume building preparation can be quite a tedious task when these confusions refuse to leave your head.

One thing that always helps in such situations is consulting a good resume format that gives you an idea of the type of information that you need to mention in your resume.

6.) A lack of substance

You may have accomplished a lot in your professional or academic career but failing to present it in the right manner in your resume does you no good.

Avoid making vague statements stating where you’ve worked. Rather, try to show the prospective recruiter some concrete results.

Kelly Braden, senior project manager at web design resource Alphabetix had said in this regard, “Employers want folks who can manage execution and get things done. Show us some examples of getting stuff done.”

And that’s exactly what you should do.

7.) Oblivious of ATS

What many job applicants are unaware of is that their applications go through an electronic filter called Applicant Tracking System (ATS) before reaching the hiring manager.

In order to get through this resume screening, one must optimize resume with the right set of keywords or else they might just lose their chance of being scrutinized by the hiring authorities.

Following the professional resume format and taking care to mention details and specifications that the hiring organization is looking for is the key to clear this ATS screening.

8.) Bizarre attempts at standing out

Professional resumes are supposed to be written in a particular format and that resume format should always be followed.

Using different fonts and colours to make your resume stand out or inserting pictures will do you more harm than good and might as well make the prospective recruiter question your ability to fulfil their requirements.

“We tell job seekers to be unique. To be authentic. To ‘keep it real’. But then we tell them to keep their style within industry norms, don’t stick out, don’t make an employer wonder about your ability to fit in,” these words of Cheryl Rich Heisler are meant for all those who still use their favourite fonts on their resumes.

9.) Being in a complicated position

Life is a journey where we encounter bits of death every day in the form of obstacles and failures. Not everyone has a smooth going professional and academic life.

You might have a few years of gap between two jobs or degrees for various reasons and that is okay.

While you cannot do anything to change the past, you can always make it look better by working a little harder on your resume.

10.) Time-lapse since your last job search

In a world where nothing apart from change is constant, expecting things to remain the same is quite unreasonable.

In case you have been on a long break from job hunting and are now back in the ground looking for one then it’s wise that you catch up with the new resume format and patterns.

A lot might have changed from the time you last wrote a professional resume, starting from layout and format to keywords and content.

Fortunately for you, there are plenty of resume samples and resume layouts out there on the web for your perusal!

Lastly, no man is perfect and no man is the master of any field.

Your resume might look flawless to you and it might as well be flawless, but what’s the harm in getting it checked by a professional resume writer?

There are innumerable sites on the web that do such resume checks for free and if you are someone who is too lazy prepare your resume then you have an online solution for that too!

Try CV OWL – A Free Resume Builder that can help you create truly professional resume in just 15 minutes.