25 Words that Can Hurt Your Resume

Remember the George Carlin routine about the seven dirty words you can’t say on television? Well, there are actually 25 words that you shouldn't say on your resume... that is, if you are looking to get hired.

This is a great article that provides examples and solutions, but is a short list of the 25 offending words:

• Aggressive
• Ambitious
• Competent
• Creative
• Detail-oriented
• Determined
• Efficient
• Experienced
• Flexible
• Goal-oriented
• Hard-working
• Independent
• Innovative
• Knowledgeable
• Logical
• Motivated
• Meticulous
• People person
• Professional
• Reliable
• Resourceful
• Self-motivated
• Successful
• Team player
• Well-organized

Write a Great Resume in One Hour

According to Career Builder, people spend so much time trying to perfect their resume that they actually end up steering away from the objective and ultimately hurting themselves.

The article is great and approaches the whole process from a simple, pragmatic angle. It is important to realize that your resume has only two goals: to sum up your life and your employment history. Everything on your resume should tie back to one of these two simple truths.

Don’t Want to Get Hired? Try doing these...

Career Builder has listed ten “red flags” that scream don’t hire me to potential employers. In today’s uncertain economy, you probably don’t need any extra help when it comes to struggling to find a job. So as an FYI, here they are:

• Red flag No. 1: You don't have any contact information on your résumé
• Red flag No. 2: You have long gaps between jobs on your résumé
• Red flag No. 3: You aren't prepared for the interview
• Red flag No. 4: You didn't provide any references
• Red flag No. 5: You only have negative things to say about previous employment
• Red flag No. 6: You've held seven different jobs -- in the past six months
• Red flag No. 7: You give inconsistent answers in your interview
• Red flag No. 8: You lack flexibility
• Red flag No. 9: Your application was, in a word -- lazy
• Red flag No. 10: You lack objective or ambition

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

An interesting article caught my attention during my daily research on Monster. It talks about the consequences of getting caught lying on a resume, as well as presenting the fact that over 50% of job hunters do so. I’ll let you head to the article if interested, but I thought I’d reprint the interesting anecdote that starts it off:

“When a woman we'll call Mary was offered a high-level student-services position at a prestigious college, she was thrilled to accept. But two years later, Mary was fired despite strong performance reviews and a reputation as a rising star at the college. The reason? She lied on her resume -- and got caught.

An HR initiative requiring employees to furnish college transcripts revealed Mary lied about having a master's degree. It wasn't the lack of a degree that cost Mary her job; it was her dishonesty. Unemployed and with a blown reference to boot, Mary demonstrates what can happen when you lie on your resume.”

Has anybody here ever lied or thought about lying on a resume? And if so, did you get caught?

Should You Use a Resume Writing Service?

By now everybody knows that it is crucial to have a great resume to land a great job. For instance, according to a survey conducted by a major human resources association, a majority of recruiters spend less than three minutes reviewing a resume. That’s not a lot of time to convince someone that you’re worthy of being hired.

So does it make sense to bring in a professional to help button up your resume? HotJobs has a good article on the topic that presents both the pros and cons that is worth checking out.

The Career Performance Portfolio

We all know that it’s a crapshoot to whether or not our resume will even be pulled from the mountain of paper and read by a prospective employer. With more and more qualified candidates for fewer jobs, it sometimes takes more than just a resume to land your dream job.

That’s where the career performance portfolio comes into play. A portfolio simply collects classroom, work, internship or volunteer materials in a nice three-ring binder to bring to interviews. During each interview, you can then show your portfolio to the interviewer and back up what you're saying about your education, skills and experience.

A career performance portfolio doesn’t take the place of a well-written resume, but it can be the deciding enhancement needed to get you what you want.

Converting Your Resume to Plain-Text

Have you ever found yourself applying to a job online, only to find that they ask for your resume to be included in the body of the e-mail? This can be not only become a total time drainer, but if done improperly, your resume could end up looking like gobbledygook.

Have no fear, here is an article to the rescue! It lays out the process step-by-step for a variety of formats.

Now that you have the formatting covered, would you like some help on actually getting that resume polished to get you the job?

Crossing Borders: Turning your CV into a Resume

Whether you've been calling it a Lebenslauf (Germany), a Meritförteckning (Sweden), your Bio-data (India) or a Curriculum Vitae (Great Britain), get ready to start writing a resume if you are interested in landing a job in the U.S. Getting a job in the U.S. is difficult enough already, so why not get your new life off to a great start by polishing up your resume has best as you can before getting off the plane.

Here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Omit personal information
International CVs often contain personal information about the candidate (e.g., age, religion, ethnic group, marital status).

In the United States, however, it is illegal for any employer to make discriminatory employment decisions based upon:

* Age
* Sex
* Race/National origin
* Ethnic group
* Religion
* Possession of a disability

Depending on the employer's state, it may also be illegal for them to make employment decisions based on:

* Sexual orientation
* Parental status
* Marital status
* Political affiliation

Employers are so worried about discrimination lawsuits, that if you explicitly include the above information in your resume, it will likely go directly into the garbage can.

The only information that you should list at the top of your resume is your contact information:

Your name Your mailing address Your phone number Your e-mail address

For example, this might resemble the top of your resume:

John Doe 123 Pine Street Philadelphia, PA 19102 Phone: (555) 555-5555 E-mail: JohnDoe@yahoo.com

Don't place the word "Resume" at the top as it is sometimes done in European countries. Just start with your name.

2. Know length requirements
CVs are usually rather lengthy, explaining past work experience in detail. Unless you are applying to be a teacher or a scientist (which have their own unique resume standards), follow this rule of thumb: A resume should never be more than one page long. The average employer spends less than 30 seconds reading a resume, so brevity is key.

To shorten your resume:

* Use sentence fragments with as few words as possible
* Use action verbs
* Eliminate articles and pronouns

A CV might have a line that reads:

"As a Project Manager, I was responsible for helping the organization recruit clients. In my first three months, I recruited 250 clients, and I recruited another 200 clients in my second three months. These clients eventually brought the organization $45,000 worth of revenue, making my department the most valuable."

On a resume, it might read:

"Recruited 450 new clients in six months. Total revenue raised: $45,000"

3. Use accepted headings
Resumes consist of separate sections, each of which should provide evidence of your skills and talents. The list below outlines sections that are commonly used, in the order in which it should appear.

* Objective: A brief sentence explaining what kind of job you are looking for.

* Work Experience: Under this section, the candidate lists jobs the candidate has held, with some impressive details proving job excellence.

* Skills: This section may contain important information such as computer knowledge, languages spoken and memberships in professional organizations.

* Education: This section should briefly list the candidate's educational history going back as far as an undergraduate degree, listing the institution(s) attended, the degree(s) received and the dates of attendance.

4. Put the most recent information at the top
If the top of a resume doesn't grab recruiters' attention, they'll never get to the bottom. As a result, most resumes are organized in reverse-chronological order - the most recent information is placed at the top of a section and works its way backwards.

5. Use American paper sizes
If you are going to send a resume through the mail, remember that the standard size for an American resume is 8.5 by 11 inches. Use only one side of the paper, with a legible font and margins of at least .75 inches on each side.

6. Spell-check and proofread
Whether or not English is your first language, there is no excuse for having any spelling errors in your resume. So before submitting your resume, be sure to double-check your spelling. Then give your resume to a friend (one who is fluent in English) to give it a second read.

Even native English speakers from abroad should check their spelling using an American-style dictionary, because there are words that are spelled uniquely in the U.S. For example:

"organized" not "organised"

"favorite" not "favourite"

"theater" not "theatre"

"color" not "colour"

Searching for a job in the U.S. can be a daunting experience, but a standard American resume can put you one step closer to your dream.

An 'Objective' Debate

There is an interesting article by Erin Hovanec on the pros and cons of listing an ‘objective’ on your resume. Proponents state that it’s the quickest, simplest way to get your target job across. Opponents disagree by saying that it wastes valuable resume space and limits you to only one position when you might be qualified for more.

I’ll let you head to the article if you’re interested, but I’m curious, do you think that listing an ‘objective’ on a resume is necessary? Also, what other standard resume items might be overrated?

How to Follow-Up on a Resume

After you’ve spotted your dream job, crafted your resume, and submitted it to a recruiter, what do you do now? Do you sit around and wait to be contacted?

According to a HotJobs survey, a majority of recruiters suggest that you take a proactive approach. 53% said that you should wait a week before making contact, while 21% suggested that a week may be too long.

But how do you make contact? A short e-mail is the preferred method, but a succinct phone call is equally acceptable. However, one no-no, is just blindly resending your resume. The recruiter’s job is already tough enough without having to sift through duplicates.

Magic Words for Resumes

For every job opening, employers have to sift through a mountain of resumes. If your resume doesn’t catch their eye after a quick read through, it will likely be wadded up and placed in the round file.

So how do you get your resume out of the slush pile? Like opening a stone door or making a person vanish into thin air, every resume needs help from magic words. No, not abracadabra or shazaam. The magic words I’m talking about are action words – words that show that you are well-rounded.

Here are a few of “must-have” words for your resume:

Teamwork: Teamwork is more important than ever in the workplace. The ability to work well with others to accomplish a common goal is vital for a harmonious workplace.

Flexibility: Employers value workers who are flexible and able to juggle multiple tasks simultaneously. In other words, it's sometimes just as important to be a jack-of-all-trades as a master of one.

Detail-Oriented: Employers want to know that they can trust workers to handle a project down to the last detail. Being "detail-oriented" means being organized and meticulous about your work. It also implies that you can work without constant supervision and act independently.

Self-Motivated: Employers value employees who are self-starters. These workers can generate their own ideas and follow them through to fruition.

The Ultra Honest Resume

As MetaTech’s Tom Parrish wrote last Friday, a successful resume creates the “illusion of reality” – where the applicant can list their qualifications in a real, living and breathing, story-like manner.

Along that same line, there is another kind of honesty that is just important. While it is common knowledge (or at least it should be) that you should never lie on your resume, some companies fact checking on your resume can trip up even the most upstanding applicants.

Many companies hire outside background checkers to verify resumes and job applications. These companies note every inconsistency and piece of information they can't confirm -- even the difference between starting a job on April 1 and April 5 -- although some problems are treated more seriously than others by employers.

So, in short, even a harmless mistake could cost you. Here are a few suggestions that can help you “work on your honesty”:

1. If you're not sure, don't guess.
2. Provide extra information if the company's situation has changed.
3. Be careful with titles and temp work.
4. Don't obsess over it.

What We're Reading

Written By
Tom Parrish
MetaTech Sales Guy

Resumes. Thousands of resumes. We love reading people’s resumes. When my wife asks me what I’m reading this weekend, I say, well…I’m reading this really great resume. It’s based out of Boston, and it’s this incredible story about this guy who works as a software engineer for a capital management firm. But what’s really interesting about him is that he’s written this thing in a way that he’s actually accessible to me as a person rather than as a two-dimensional abstraction of him.

And of course, this is the trick in resume writing – creating the “illusion of reality”, so to speak, not unlike a great short story, wherein the reader has access to the thing-in-itself, the real, living person, under the covers of symbolic abstraction.

I used to work for a staffing company where the recruiters would come up to me and say…”Look at this guy! Doesn’t he look great for the blah, blah, blah job?!” And I’d think, well, first off, this isn’t a “guy”, it’s just a two-dimensional symbolic abstraction of a guy. Now, as we all know from our History of Western Philosophy class, getting at the thing-in-itself is notoriously difficult if not impossible, due to the problem that human beings really only know the world through symbols, (i.e. - language, mathematics, art) and don’t have immediate access to being like, say my cat Angel, who’s blessedly not burdened with the fact that thought and language are inextricably bound.

So if you’re sending us a resume, it would be helpful for us if you wrote this thing in a way that we can somehow see you, the real person, so we can move on quickly to what we’re all here for, having a meaningful conversation with you about how we can help you advance your career.