Marketing For Accountants In Practice

Common Resume Mistakes To Avoid

Whether you’re hiring or looking to get hired, these common mistakes in resume will point you in the right direction.

As you’ll know, if you’ve been reading LEDGER for any amount of time, part of my work with public accounting firms is to recruit staff for them.

My recruiting and M & A web site (www.mcintyre-smith.com) has a number of career opportunities every month, and I receive more than my fair share of resumes through the site, and through my exposure to the Canadian market as the resident Human Resources columnist for ‘The Bottom Line’.

If you’re hiring, you’ll no doubt recognize some of the following blunders, and if you’re looking to make that all important next career move, you’d benefit by using the following as a checklist, in the hope that it’ll help some of you in your quest for employment.

As such, here’s my “Top Ten” list of common faults that can cause your resume to be dropped in an employer’s (or headhunter’s) circular file.

1. Misspelled words. This is far and away the most common and surest way to destroy any chance you have of being considered for an interview.

Think about it: a resume is your first (and usually only) chance to make a good impression on a potential employer. From my own perspective, good is your attention to detail if you don’t even bother to run a spell check?

2. Language, grammar, and punctuation. These comprise the second most common sin of resume writing. Though I’m certainly not an English expert, and God knows, I make mistakes, basic grammatical errors mean... Bang, you’re out.

3. Job hoppers. A close third. OK, so you’ve had six jobs in the last four years? My advice to you is to clear your reputation by finding some place where you can stay for at least three years.
Unfortunately, you’ve lost that chance with me.

4. Unexplained employment gaps. Remember that I’m seeing your resume for the first time, and I don’t know you from Adam. Employment gaps make me think that your departure from the first job was unexpected, and that you may have been fired. If I see more than one such occurrence on your resume it’s adios, amigo.

Another related sin is being purposely vague with your employment history; i.e., “John Dyson, LLP, 1998-1999.” This makes it look like you’re hiding something, and I’d rather not take the chance of finding out what it is.

Give me the exact months so that I can see if it’s Dec 98 to Jan 99 or Jan 98 to Dec 99, there’s a HUGE difference!

5. No cover letter. Many say that a resume should always start with an Objective. Bull. They all say the same thing, - basically nothing at all.

Let’s be frank – we both know your objective: you want a job. Even better, a job that you like doing, pays well, and has good benefits. So write a cover letter that gives me a chance to know you as an person.

6. All italics. Ok, so you’ve been advised to do something that makes your resume stand out.

And your interpretation of that is to send me what looks like a wedding invitation by writing the resume in italics (very annoying, isn’t it?).

I RECEIVE SEVERAL COVER LETTERS IN ALL CAPS. SORRY AGAIN, BUT I DON’T LIKE BEING YELLED AT EITHER, SO PLEASE USE MIXED CASE ON YOUR NEXT OPPORTUNITY (SINCE YOU’VE LOST THIS ONE).

7. Too lengthy. Almost everyone tells you that a resume should not exceed two pages plus a cover letter. This is good advice; please take it. One of the resumes I got last week spanned twelve pages. All I can say to you is: good luck with your career search.

8. Too short. On occasion I’ll get a resume that simply lists places and dates of employment with no details at all. C’mon, you must have done something while you were there. No? Well, bye-bye.

9. Racy email addresses. I really don’t think it looks all that appropriate to have an email address such as ‘loverboy@hotmail.com” on your resume, and I’m quite certain that my clients wouldn’t go for it.

10. Skill mismatch. Let’s be honest: the job calls for written and verbal communication skills and you don’t have them. Hey, I can’t get Pat Quinn to let me play hockey for the ‘Leafs either.

Your best bet to find the right position is to make an honest assessment of what you’re good at and apply for jobs that require those skills.

I want my clients to hire you, and I know that you’re basically a good person. So please, give yourself a chance next time. Happy hunting.