With Fred Coon

20 Pet Peeves Recruiters Have About Resumes
Courtesy of Mike Worthington, ResumeDoctor.com

# 1 – Spelling Errors, Typos, and Poor Grammar

For those of you who have waited or emailed me over the last several weeks asking what the Number One complaint among recruiters is about resumes, your wait is no more. Hands down, without a doubt, the NUMBER ONE complaint is Spelling Errors, Typos, and Poor Grammar.

Lucille Abate, Recruitment Director at Abane & Associates in Newmarket, Ontario states, “Spelling Errors drive us insane. In the world of technology and ‘Spell Check,’ you would be amazed at how many resumes come through with errors! Candidates need to remember that their resume represents them! If there are careless errors, it directly reflects on the candidate. Our policy is, if they haven’t taken the time to proofread their resume and correct spelling errors, delete!”

Brian Correia of Management Search, Inc. in Providence, RI shares, “It is surprising to me how many resumes I receive for $50K + positions that have misspellings, incorrectly used words (their vs. there) and poor grammar. If an individual sends me a document meant to represent his/her acumen and skill, and does not take the time to insure that it is correct, then I am left to interpret this to mean poor attention to detail and lack of sincere interest. Unfortunately for them, I will never refer them to a client, if that is their best effort. Proofreading seems to be a lost art in the technology age.”

The general consensus among recruiters is that your resume will more often than not be your one opportunity to make a first impression. You need to make it a positive one! Simply put by Glen Thompson of Archer Resource Solutions in Mississauga, Ontario, “If your resume has a mistake, that is reason enough not to get the job. This is a document that you have hopefully worked on for a long time and had several people go over. If this document has mistakes what does that say about the rest of the work that you do?”

Boston recruiter David Carpe of Clew adds, “By far, the biggest complaint I have is related specifically to grammar. Resumes are supposed to not only reflect the experiences of professionals, but additionally they serve as examples of communication style. Run-on sentences, poor spelling, mixed verb tenses, all of these things and more are a serious reflection on the individual!”

In closing, if you want your resume to work for you, the whole list of 20 pet peeves can be easily summarized into 3 major areas:

  1. A resume is a marketing piece. A resume full of spelling errors, hard to read paragraphs or fonts, poor contact info or formatting, etc., does not make for an effective marketing piece about your skills. You must sell yourself.
  2. It is paramount that your resume be presented in a way that is easy to read in today’s Internet age. This means having an easy to open Word attachment and a resume that is easy to read on a computer screen. In addition your resume must post well to the job boards and into HRIS systems, etc., in order to be considered a viable candidate.
  3. A job seeker must customize his/her resume for each and every job he/she is seeking. This means do not bury important details. Provide your reader with an effective summary tailored to each position, etc. What might be a hot button to one employer concerning your background may not be the most important skill to another.

Recruiter’s likes and dislikes in a resume were surveyed nation-wide by Mike Worthington of ResumeDoctor.com. FACE to FACE will publish all twenty pet peeves in this column over the next months.

ResumeDoctor.com is a service provided by Personnel Department Inc. PDI is Vermont’s largest independently owned staffing agency. They have been locally owned and operated for over 14 years. They have been featured in many publications, TV news programs, and radio broadcasts. You may contact them at: http://www.resumedoctor.com.