Recruiting Software Doesn’t Prevent Resume Mistakes

Recruiting software makes the application and hiring process easier for both job seekers and employers. However, sometimes the process seems so easy that potential candidates are led to make critical mistakes, which may in turn prolong the hiring process for the employer.

Most recruiting software applications allow candidates to quickly input their information and either create a new resume or upload an existing document. Sometimes the process appears to be so easy that job seekers forget to go back and double check exactly what it is they’re submitting to their potential employer.

Simply typing in a bunch of nonsensical information or uploading an old, out-of-date resume can easily get you thrown out of the candidate pool.

“Making errors on your resume just screams, ‘I’m careless, I don’t care to double-check my work or have a friend look it over, and that’s exactly the same sloppy, lazy effort I’ll give you as my employer,'” Tony Katsulos, head of Jetstream Public Relations, told Yahoo! HotJobs.

Here are some of the worst resume mistakes made by real job seekers:
Careless Errors

• “Speak, read, and wright English/Spanish.”
• The first name “Barabara” instead of “Barbara.”
• The resume objective of a job seeker applying for a position as a security manager stated she wanted a job as a nurse.
• A candidate called a company by a competitor’s name.
• “I’m very detale oriented.”
• A potential candidate wrote “psychology professor” as “pschyo. professor” and “analytic philosophy” as “anal. philosophy.”

Too Much Information

• “GPA: 2.0”
• One job seeker noted he could not interview immediately because he was serving time for embezzlement.
• “I was fired.”
• Social Security numbers on a resume.

Bad Judgment

• A job seeker included a glamor photo and picture of himself at the gym with his resume for an administrative position with a financial services provider.
• E-mail addresses such as Bostoncutiee22@example.com
• Using a free return-address sticker on a resume instead of typing out the information.
• Reducing a three-page resume and cover letter onto one page.