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What you don't know can hurt you. Your resume can hinder your chances for a job interview. Most hiring managers agree that common mistakes on resumes may hurt an interviewee's chances of being called back for an in person interview. With the current tight job market you need every piece of the process to work for you and not against you. In the end the final decisions may come down, to experience level or qualification, but to the quality of the resume.

The average job opening gets hundreds of applications and at best a hiring manager peruses resumes to determine who will get the precious few interviews. Any mistakes, misspellings, or other mistakes are red flags for managers and glaring mistakes may well prevent an interviewee from moving to the next step.

Be wary of the following common mistakes on resumes that may sink your chances in a job interview process.

First, if you want an advantage in the job market, you must be willing to stand out in the crowd. Realize that no two companies are alike. You should never give a generic resume to everyone. Each resume should be tweaked to accommodate each organization. Emphasize the skill sets, experience, and use key words to match your skills and experience to the job posting to which you are applying.

Second, do not try to impress with your verbage. Use clear, concise terms that express in the simplest terms the point you want to get across. The idea behind a resume is to be short and sweet, not long and wordy. The idea resume is one page or one and a half at most.

Third, be sure your materials submitted are neat, clean, and contain no misspelled words. Managers do not have patience to deal with sloppy work, and they certainly will not give consideration to someone who is careless to detail. A recent survey says that more than 75% of hiring managers reject applicants because of more than one misspelled word.

Finally, stay on topic. It is amazing how many people talk themselves right out of a job by talking on and on until they divulge information that hurts their chances. Keep the home drama at home. Your resume should not include information that is of no relevance for the job for which you are applying.

The resume is usually the first contact with an employer. To move to the next step, it should be a clean, concise representation of your education, work experience, and a few pertinent facts that place you above the crowd. Anything belong that may well hurt your chances of getting to the next level.

Never embellish or lie on a resume. Anytime an employer decides to check your resume details, a falsehood may get you terminated. Any gaps in employment are suspect and it is well to get ahead of the game by explaining any negative information.

Consider printing your resume on a pastel paper to set it apart from other resumes. It is well worth the investment to make a good impression. A well done resume may well be your ticket to a great new job.

Learn more about this author, Dr. Michael Smith.
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