Virtually every earthborn has an itch for a good job. A good job on the other hand comes at a cost, all other unconventional means of securing jobs held constant. A well drafted curriculum vitae might just be the thin line between joblessness and your dream occupation. Recent statistics indicate that recruiters take 6.2 seconds looking at an individual’s resume. That’s equivalent of the time you take to yawn when under the influence of munchies. Hold on to that thought for a second. Well, its time you take a closer look at your resume and heartily close out on all those unprofitable terms that are doing you zero favors. Let’s start with these 8 fuzzy, perverse and outright pointless terms.
- “ Utilize and other ‘izes’ ”
Use of such words as maximize, utilize, optimize etc is a sin that can land you instantly in hell in the eyes of your would-be employer. Not only do they detract them from the flow and clarity of your resume, “izes’ completely fail to impress your recruiter. Bypass this business-speak and instead bear on simple direct communication that quantifies your achievements.
- “Experienced”
This happens to be one of those few words that have been prostituted around eventually ending up vague and meaningless. The last option you have with it apparently is to skip it, and just get specific. What have you done? What projects have you managed? What output have you produced so far? Get down to the facts and stop fidgeting with generalities.
- “Result Oriented”
The connection between this word and your would be employer presents the ultimate scenario of a love lost. Whatever meaning it once had evaporated. And seems the only way to reverse the process is to replace it with quantitative examples of results you have produced, goals you have hit consistently, deals you’ve closed and new partnerships you have developed.
- “Hard working “
The content of a well crafted resume will scream out loud for heaven’s sake what you are all about. Your experience, skills, achievements, results and many others will have the definition of hard-work well illustrated to the recruiter.
- “Microsoft office”
One of the top assumptions employers have and probably doesn’t deserve a mention on your resume is basic computer skills. Pointing out the obvious on your resume amounts to waste of ink, paper and energy. Instead, focus on the specific areas of expertise: HTML coding, SEO/SEM, project management software programs and many others.
- “I”
Focus on what you can bring to the firm and the capacity you are interested in. Air out your skills, experiences and knowledge that have borne quantitative results for your previous employer. It should occur to you that it’s more about them and less about you. Congesting your resume with ‘I’ and ‘me’ sends a message but in the wrong direction.
- “Passionate and driven”
Since employers showed their prepossession with passion, applicants have been quick to paint their resumes with this outrageous adjective. As much as it sounds good, don’t be saddened to realize it only sounds good to you. Going to the extreme of demonstrating how accounting or human resource management stiffly arouses you serves no favor or marks to your success in passing the interview. Rather, demonstrate it through educational achievement, specific career achievement, licensures and participation in professional associations.
- “Team Player”
Hiring managers have totally lost count of the times they have came across this word. Jump of this cliché and go straight ahead and show you’ve actually done it. This may include working with teams in the recent past or better yet, give out examples of strong teams you have built, supervised and motivated towards real results.
Take note that nearly all aspects of life work on pre-determined principles that govern and ensure their successful happening. The post may not be conclusive in its entirety but still it does take a larger share of the recipe for successful job application. Winning resumes are clear, jargon-free, flawlessly written and ruthlessly edited. Take time, work on yours and get that recruiter to notice you. More on that still coming. Stay close and logged here.
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