Your resume should contain a great deal of information about you, but without focus it could lack cohesiveness. In this competitive market, candidates should tweak their resume or hire a professional resume writer, to ensure their resume is focused and is specific to the position they are seeking.

Here are some common mistakes found that you should try to avoid:

  • Misspellings
  • Typos
  • Grammatical errors
  • Formatting
  • Lack of attention to achievements
  • Marital status, children and personal hobbies (this isn’t FaceBook)

Most people who write their own resume make the mistake of listing job descriptions or share irrelevant information, or do not include enough transferable skill information, rather they create a list of jobs and educational information that is non-specific to jobs they are targeting.

Remember, you aren’t bragging about your accomplishments and you should “start thinking about KEY MESSAGES rather than keywords“. Most industry experts agree that a good percentage of jobs being filled today are through networking and social media, so the message your resume (and online profile, such as LinkedIn) should communicate should be clearly focused and speak significantly to the bottom line, economic results that can be delivered and supported by your former achievements and accomplishments and should absolutely state your value.

Your resume can be the most powerful tool in your arsenal… and avoiding common mistakes and communicating your value will lead to interviews and job offers.