1. Using a functional resume instead of a chronological resume to hide
weaknesses in your work history. If you’re trying to hide gaps between jobs, disguise several
short-term stays or downplay the fact that you’ve been out of the workforce for
a while, you might have been advised that you should use a functional resume
instead of a chronological one. Rather than a traditional resume, which
would be in reverse-chronological order, functional resumes simply list
skills and
abilities without tying them to specific jobs and dates.
The problem with this format? Employers know that they’re generally used to disguise limited or outdated work experience or job hopping, and so they’re generally taken as a red flag that the candidate is trying to cover something up. Moreover, employers hate this format since it makes it hard to understand what the candidate’s career progression has been, and how recent (or old) those listed accomplishments are. If your skills are strong, an employer might contact you anyway and ask you to clarify the chronology of your work history – but when they have plenty of other good candidates to choose from, it will make them more likely to simply pass you up.
2. Shortening your resume by shrinking the margins and font instead of cutting content. Sometimes a candidate who has heard that his or her resume shouldn’t be more than one or two pages tries to hit that limit by using a tiny font and narrowing page margins to cram more text in. But it’s pretty obvious to people who read a lot of resumes when you’ve done this, and you’ll come across as someone who can’t or won’t edit and who doesn’t know what’s most important. Worse, you’ll dilute your resume’s impact, because small, crowded text with no white space is hard to read and even harder to scan, which means hiring managers’ eyes are likely to glaze over when they turn to your resume – the exact opposite of the reaction you want.
3. Leaving dates off your resume to avoid age discrimination. Older candidates are sometimes advised to leave dates of employment off their resumes altogether, so that employers don’t draw conclusions about their age and assume that they’re too old, too expensive or too set in their ways. The problem with this advice is that dates of employment are such a standard part of a resume that leaving them off looks bizarre – like leaving the house without your pants. Moreover, it’s not just convention; dates of employment are relevant. Employers want to know if your experience managing the team that achieved such great results was recent or if it was 20 years ago, as well as whether you did it for six months or three years.
However, if you’re concerned about age discrimination, one thing you can do is remove from your resume jobs that are older than 15 to 20 years. They’re unlikely to strengthen your candidacy at this point anyway, and your more recent accomplishments are probably more impressive.
4. Littering your resume with “keywords” to get by resume-screening software. Many job seekers have become convinced that the only way their resumes will be seen by human eyes is to figure out some magical combination of keywords to make it past resume-screening software. In reality, many companies (especially smaller ones) don’t use resume-screening software, and those that do don’t screen using obscure keywords. Any halfway competent resume screener is going to run expansive and varied enough searches that your resume should get seen if you’re a qualified candidate. You don’t need to stumble on some esoteric combination of words to get spotted.
Plus, tailoring your resume to what you think a computer program wants to see is a good way to make it unappealing to human eyes – and it’s a human who will ultimately decide whether to call you in for an interview.
5. Using a fancy or unusual resume design to stand out and catch the hiring manager’s eye. When you know you’re competing against a sea of similarly qualified candidates, it can be tempting to think you need to find creative ways to stand out, like using an unusual resume design with graphics and colors. But often a fancy design backfires by making it harder for employers to quickly find the information they’re looking for on your resume. In fact, fancy resume designs tend to minimize the amount of information you can include, sacrificing content for flash. That’s at odds with what hiring managers want from your resume, which is quite simple: a clean, uncluttered document that’s easy to quickly scan and which puts information in the places they expect to find it. Designs that emphasize appearance over those characteristics will make your job search harder, not easier.
The problem with this format? Employers know that they’re generally used to disguise limited or outdated work experience or job hopping, and so they’re generally taken as a red flag that the candidate is trying to cover something up. Moreover, employers hate this format since it makes it hard to understand what the candidate’s career progression has been, and how recent (or old) those listed accomplishments are. If your skills are strong, an employer might contact you anyway and ask you to clarify the chronology of your work history – but when they have plenty of other good candidates to choose from, it will make them more likely to simply pass you up.
2. Shortening your resume by shrinking the margins and font instead of cutting content. Sometimes a candidate who has heard that his or her resume shouldn’t be more than one or two pages tries to hit that limit by using a tiny font and narrowing page margins to cram more text in. But it’s pretty obvious to people who read a lot of resumes when you’ve done this, and you’ll come across as someone who can’t or won’t edit and who doesn’t know what’s most important. Worse, you’ll dilute your resume’s impact, because small, crowded text with no white space is hard to read and even harder to scan, which means hiring managers’ eyes are likely to glaze over when they turn to your resume – the exact opposite of the reaction you want.
3. Leaving dates off your resume to avoid age discrimination. Older candidates are sometimes advised to leave dates of employment off their resumes altogether, so that employers don’t draw conclusions about their age and assume that they’re too old, too expensive or too set in their ways. The problem with this advice is that dates of employment are such a standard part of a resume that leaving them off looks bizarre – like leaving the house without your pants. Moreover, it’s not just convention; dates of employment are relevant. Employers want to know if your experience managing the team that achieved such great results was recent or if it was 20 years ago, as well as whether you did it for six months or three years.
However, if you’re concerned about age discrimination, one thing you can do is remove from your resume jobs that are older than 15 to 20 years. They’re unlikely to strengthen your candidacy at this point anyway, and your more recent accomplishments are probably more impressive.
4. Littering your resume with “keywords” to get by resume-screening software. Many job seekers have become convinced that the only way their resumes will be seen by human eyes is to figure out some magical combination of keywords to make it past resume-screening software. In reality, many companies (especially smaller ones) don’t use resume-screening software, and those that do don’t screen using obscure keywords. Any halfway competent resume screener is going to run expansive and varied enough searches that your resume should get seen if you’re a qualified candidate. You don’t need to stumble on some esoteric combination of words to get spotted.
Plus, tailoring your resume to what you think a computer program wants to see is a good way to make it unappealing to human eyes – and it’s a human who will ultimately decide whether to call you in for an interview.
5. Using a fancy or unusual resume design to stand out and catch the hiring manager’s eye. When you know you’re competing against a sea of similarly qualified candidates, it can be tempting to think you need to find creative ways to stand out, like using an unusual resume design with graphics and colors. But often a fancy design backfires by making it harder for employers to quickly find the information they’re looking for on your resume. In fact, fancy resume designs tend to minimize the amount of information you can include, sacrificing content for flash. That’s at odds with what hiring managers want from your resume, which is quite simple: a clean, uncluttered document that’s easy to quickly scan and which puts information in the places they expect to find it. Designs that emphasize appearance over those characteristics will make your job search harder, not easier.
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