It’s deceptively easy to make mistakes on your résumé and exceptionally difficult to repair the damage once an employer gets it. So prevention is critical, especially if you’ve never written one before. Here are the most common pitfalls and how you can avoid them.

Avoid errors

Your résumé needs to be grammatically perfect. If it isn’t, employers will read between the lines and draw not-so-flattering conclusions about you, such as: “This person can’t write,” or “This person obviously doesn’t care.”

Be specific

Employers need to understand what you’ve done and accomplished.

Examples

a) Worked with employees in a restaurant setting

b) Recruited, hired, trained and supervised more than 20 employees in a restaurant with $2 million in annual sales.

Both of these phrases could describe the same person, but the details and specifics in the second example will more likely grab an employer’s attention.

One for each

Whenever you try to develop a one-size-fits-all résumé to send to all employers, you will almost always end up with something employers will toss in the recycle bin. Employers want you to write a résumé specifically for them. They expect you to clearly show how and why you fit the position in a specific organisation.

Highlight duties

It’s easy to slip into a mode where you simply start listing job duties on your résumé.

Examples

a) Attended group meetings and recorded minutes

b) Worked with children in a day care setting

c) Updated departmental files.

Employers, however, don’t care so much about what you’ve done or what you’ve accomplished in your various activities.

They’re looking for statements more like these:

a) Used a laptop to record weekly meeting minutes and compiled them in a Microsoft Word-based file for future organisational reference

b) Developed three daily activities for preschool children and prepared them for a 10-minute holiday programme performance

c) Reorganised 10 years’ worth of unwieldy files, making them easily accessible to department members.

Strike a balance

Despite what you may read or hear, there are no real rules governing the length of your résumé. Why? Because human beings, who have different preferences and expectations where résumés are concerned, will be reading it.

That doesn’t mean you should start sending out five-page résumés. You usually need to limit yourself to a maximum of two pages. But don’t feel you have to use two pages if one will do. Conversely, don’t cut the meat out of your résumé simply to make it conform to an arbitrary one-page standard.

Be objective

Employers do read your objective statement, but too often have to plough through vague pufferies such as, “Seeking a challenging position that offers professional growth.” Give employers something specific and, more importantly, something that focuses on their needs as well as your own.

An Example

“A challenging entry-level marketing position that allows me to contribute my skills and experience in fund-raising for nonprofits.”

Action verbs

Avoid using such phrases as “responsible for”. Instead, use action verbs.

An example

“Resolved user questions as part of an IT help desk serving 4,000 students and staff.”

More information

You may be tempted, for example, to eliminate mention of the jobs you’ve taken to earn extra money for school. Typically, however, the soft skills you’ve gained from these experiences (work ethic, time management) are more important to employers than you might think.

Always revise

If your résumé consists of wall-to-wall text featuring five different fonts, it will most likely give the employer a headache. So show your résumé to several other people before sending it out. Do they find it visually attractive? If what you have is hard on the eyes, revise.

Check details

Your résumé might seem incredibly strong, but you may not be getting any bites from employers. So always check if the phone number you have listed on your résumé is correct. Double-check even the most minute, taken-for-granted details — sooner rather than later.