The Worst Resume Mistake Part 1

We all know how important your resume is, but according to a recent article at U.S. News, the worst mistake you can make on your resume is not customizing it for each job you apply for. And while I agree wholeheartedly, we have been saying that for quite some time now. But, in light of this article, I am thinking that maybe it bears repeating.

 

Always tailor your resume for each job that you apply.

 

So, how do you do that? And, why isn't my standard resume enough? Good questions. First, all employers want to feel like an applicant is applying for their job, not just a job. No one wants to be someone that someone else settled for, and it is exactly the same with employers. In times past, it may have been enough to send a copy of your carefully typed out resume to every job opening, but not anymore. These days, employers who advertise job openings are receiving more applicants than they could ever hire. What's more, most of them have found computer programs that speed up the screening process. How it works is that the company scans all the resumes they received in a paper format, and just imports the ones they received digitally into a resume scanning database. They enter in the keywords they are looking for and the results get narrowed down into a short list of candidates who seem to match what they are looking for. The short list will probably get at least a look over, the rest, well, they just go in the trash. Does this mean that some very qualified applicants get overlooked because they didn't use the exact words the employer was searching for? Absolutely.

 

It all comes down to the age old question “If a tree falls in a forest, and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?” or in this case, “If you write the perfect resume, and no one reads it, does it even matter?” So, I would have to agree with U.S. News, if you don't customize your resume, it doesn't matter what other mistakes you may or may not make on it, because odds are, it won't be looked at.

 

In Part II, I will give you tips on how to customize your resume for each job.

 

Are looking for a new job in Logistics? Take a look at Logisticsjobsite.

 

By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.