There are several common mistakes that most individuals make with their resume and you should try to avoid them:

1) Know your audience: Most resumes are initially scanned by entry-level people and not the hiring authority. Their instructions: Winnow out the deadwood and send forward only the best resumes to the actual hiring authority! (This is often a task required when there are hundreds of resumes received for a single opening). So what do they do? They review those that are short and easy to understand and reject those that are long or difficult to read.

2) Clarity: Any reader must be able to tell in just seconds what kind of opportunity you, as the applicant, are seeking so clarity is one of the most valuable currencies on a resume. If a reader cannot figure what you want and why you think you are qualified in a couple of seconds, your resume will be passed over. Your resume must communicate why the reader should spend time with your resume, and that must happen quickly.

3) Short is better than long: The typical resume is reviewed in about 10-20 seconds and when the document is too long or too wordy, it is often passed over for one that can be easily read quickly.

4) No spelling or grammatical errors: These are ‘deal breakers’ so run spell check and have a friend do the same. Be careful that you have not used a wrong word that is still spelled correctly – it’s impotent! (Sorry for the touch of humor.)

5) Easy to scan: Nothing is so important that it needs to take line after line after line to deliver a message that could be delivered with a single word (e.g., “available”).

6) Select the correct Font: Do not use tiny fonts or hard to read fonts. Your objective is to deliver a message and get the reader interested – not to show off your latest collection of fonts.

7) Avoid special formats: While PDF, ASCII, and even WordPerfect each have a place, the best way to get a resume read is when it is in MS-Word. Many resumes delivered electronically are opened by entry-level staff without access to Adobe Reader or access to the Internet. Make it easy for your resume to be opened electronically.

Report employment tenure correctly: Using a year – year format often leads to confusion for does 2007-2008 mean two full years or just two days? The preferred format is month year to month year.

9) Avoid acronyms: While you (and perhaps the hiring authority) might know what LAN/WAN and other acronyms mean, it is likely that those who make initial decisions will not. Why confuse them?

10) Academic credentials: Don’t leave them off or place them at the end of your resume as if they are without value, even to you. Professional Resume Writers place academic credentials where they do the most benefit (quickly for opportunities in academia, near the end for jobs in sales).

11) List basic computer skills: A long list of brand names makes it easy to reject you for when you say you know Word, that could be translated as “I don’t know WordPerfect.” Professional Resume Writers deliver computer skills with a broad brush and without brand names.

12) Skip the graphic art: Your message needs to be simple and easy to read – let the flash and other issues happen during the interview.