13 Ways Your Resume Can Say 'I’m Unprofessional’
Hiring pros share the faux pas they find in real resumes, including wacky e-mail
addresses, defunct phone numbers and cookie-cutter templates.
March 26, 2010
By Lisa Vaas
No offense, thebigcheese@domain.com, but if nobody has told you yet, we’re
telling you now: That e-mail address is not making you look particularly
professional.
Unprofessional e-mail addresses are just one way of sending hiring managers the
wrong message. If you want to be taken seriously when you apply for
jobs,
you need to put some polish on your
resume,
your
cover letter
and everything contained therein. Hiring professionals repeatedly run across
these red flags that scream “unprofessional.” A number of recruiters and HR
managers shared with TheLadders common errors from their own professional
experiences.
1. Random/cute/shared e-mail accounts
E-mail accounts are free. There’s no reason not to sign up for your own. Yet
many mid-career professionals share an e-mail account with a significant other
or the entire family, generating addresses such as dickandjane@domain.com or
thesmiths@domain.com..Also stay away from cutesy addresses. After all,
butterfliesaremyfriend2010@domain.com, you can always share your admiration of
Lepidoptera
with colleagues after you’ve been hired. Ditto for offensive, flirtatious or
sexual e-mail addresses.
Think we’re exaggerating? These are actual e-mail accounts cited by Jillian
Zavitz, who’s responsible for hiring as the programs manager for
TalktoCanada.com, an online English language-training course based in
Canada. (We’ve changed the domain names to protect the innocent.)
Instead, adopt an address that incorporates the name you use professionally on
your resume and cover letter.
2. Failure to proofread
Deidre Pannazzo, executive director at
Inspired Resumes, said it’s “amazing” how many people submit resumes
that contain “numerous typos and misspellings.” Even better than spell check,
she said, is to have a friend review the document for you.
“Make sure your dates are consistent, and that you don't confuse your story with
overlapping time lines,” she said. (For an in-depth look at how to tackle
proofreading your resume, click here.)
3. Bikini pictures
Resume experts advise against attaching pictures or any image files to a resume.
They can “choke” an applicant tracking system (ATS), the software that
automatically scans and parses resumes. (Click here for an in-depth look at
how your resume is handled by technology
after you press submit.) In addition, hiring professionals warn against giving
anyone a reason to prejudge and form a negative opinion based on your
appearance. Indeed, some HR departments will immediately discard resumes with
photos to avoid any possible accusations of discrimination on this basis.
But still applicants send photos. Most troublesome of all, said Zavitz, are the
beach shots. “(No) pictures where you are in a bikini at the beach (real story,
and it wasn't a flattering picture either) or at a New Year’s party with your
friends (obviously drunk). Not cool.”
4. Unprofessional voicemail
If your resume is strong enough to convince the recruiter or hiring manager to
reach for the telephone, be sure what he finds at the other end of the line
represents you in the best light – that means your voicemail or whoever might
answer the phone.
Marlane Perry, managing director of the
Executive Search Division of Magill Associates, said she is
unimpressed when a phone number on a resume leads her to an unprofessional
recorded voicemail or a conversation with a third party who can’t be trusted to
take a message. “If you don't trust your roommates to answer the phone and take
a decent message, then only list your cell phone,” she said.
5. Lazy words, ‛etc.’
Perry said that use of “etc.” on a resume is a sign of laziness: The job seeker
obviously “can't even take the time to list out all of [his] duties.” She has
seen the error on both junior- and executive-level resumes. Another no-no is
saying "same as above" anywhere on a resume. “If you had similar job functions
at your last two jobs, summarize the responsibilities and then bullet out some
of your accomplishments,” she suggested.
6. Cookie-cutter resumes
Samantha Goldberg is a celebrity event designer and TV personality
who’s always looking for employees for administrative duties or to help plan an
event. She said she often reviews resumes and cover letters that aren’t even
vaguely customized for her business.
“It’s more like ‛Mad Libs’ — they just fill in our name as they send them off!”
she said. “Just once, I would love to have them describe me on the cover letter
instead of saying that they respect my career status and have been following my
career.”
On many occasions, Goldberg said, she specifically lists a prerequisite of at
least three years’ experience with planning events that does not include
friends, family or applicants’ own weddings. “They obviously don’t read my
prerequisites and send an e-mail stating that even though they haven’t
orchestrated events for anyone they have always been told they should be in the
industry if I would just give them a chance.”
7. Everything but the kitchen sink
“I don't care, nor have time, to read about your life story,” Zavitz said. “If
you can't whittle your resume down to a page or two at max, I will not read it.
If it's not related [to the job or your work history], don't include it.”
8-13 ad infinitum...
Larry Lambeth, president of
Employment Screening Services Inc., which helps companies review job
applicants, offered a laundry list of professional gaffes he’s seen on resumes
and job applications:
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