- Job candidates can undersell themselves by using tired tropes in their resume.
- It’s best to think of it as a marketing tool, said career coach Jenny Foss.
- She said mistakes she sees include using jargon and listing all the jobs they’ve had.
Your resume and cover letter are the hiring manager’s first impression of whether your skills and experience match the job you’re seeking.
Jenny Foss, career consultant and author of “What to Do (and NOT Do) in 75+ Difficult Workplace Situations,” said too many candidates fall into clichés that bore recruiters and underestimate candidates.
She listed three mistakes to avoid.
1) List only your duties and responsibilities
Foss finds that the majority of his clients undersell themselves to potential employers because they focus on writing about the tasks and responsibilities they performed in a role without emphasizing the impact they made or the results they obtained.
“A lot of people tend to assume or fear that if they don’t have obvious quantitative results, they can’t share them because there are no numbers to point to,” Foss said, adding that the results qualitative matters just as much.
For example, you might highlight how you transformed a team as a leader, she said.
To highlight your impact, Foss recommended going through each bullet point on your resume and asking, “So what?” Why am I sharing this?
If you say you run Fortune 500 companies, for example, ask yourself, “How important is this?” What is the result ?
You need to show the business significance of what you did in a role and why it’s important to the position you’re applying for, she said.
2) Jargon and buzzwords
There are certain clichés you see over and over again on resumes, Foss said.
She said candidates should avoid using the terms “detail-oriented,” “track record” and “responsible for” without qualifying them.
“If you are detail-oriented, show me an example in your experience section where your meticulous organizational skills came into play and worked well,” Foss said.
It’s also best to avoid company-specific jargon and acronyms, she said.
3) Including all jobs you have held
Foss said just because you’ve done something doesn’t mean you have to include it.
You don’t have to include a bad job that you left after a few months, she said. Or if you’re worried that a hiring manager will think you’re old if your career goes back too far, you can pass on your first job.
“It’s not your autobiography. It’s a marketing tool,” she said, adding that the goal is to give the hiring manager enough information to invite you for an interview.
It’s also a good thing to include a career break on your resume, whether for a sabbatical, child care or travel, Foss said. People tend to over-explain or apologize, but there’s nothing wrong with calling it a “career break” or a “professionally active career break,” she said.
Don’t apologize for it, she said, and focus on your qualifications for the job.
businessinsider
