Resume Don’ts

The holiday season brings overindulgent eating, spending and plenty of obscure relatives you only see once a year. It always makes me chuckle when these relatives dive right into their favorite topic -- my job here at Monster. The first question is usually, “Can you get me a job?” followed quickly by, “Can you look at my resume?” So now I am blessed with a mailbox full of family resumes for review.

It’s actually kind of fun reading the resumes of people I have known forever and seeing how they perceive themselves. What amazes me is how bad these resumes are. I mean, these people are educated individuals, with great accomplishments -- yet they include all the wrong information on their resume. One actually included the line, “Helped foreign employees adjust to the US culture.” I almost choked on my Cheerios when I read that one.

It seems like my family members are not the only ones. According to a recent post on the Online Resume Mining Blog, Sandy found a resume that said:

I am available any place in the country for contracts longer than two weeks. This would lead you to believe that I have no life and that is pretty much the case. I am in Texas and it is H-O-T here -- not summer hot but more like Tarzan hot. I can not venture outside for I am of Irish blood and would burst into flames.

Can you believe someone actually put this on a resume? I know this seeker probably thought his colorful statement might get him a call back based on his personalilty, but unfortunately that’s not how it works. Hiring managers are searching through hundreds of resumes to find the right person for their company. They are looking for the facts and only the facts. Anything extra is just annoying.

If you’re looking for resume help and want to avoid making the same mistakes, check out the Monster Resume Center and these specific articles:
• “Focus Your Resume on Results.”
• “Tips for Creating a Concise Resume.”
• “Top 10 Questions About Writing a Resume.”

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