Common Misconceptions About Resumes & Their Reasons

A resume is not just a piece of paper that is meant to list the jobs you've held or the education you've acquired. It is your introduction to a prospective employer and represents the essence of your career, capabilities, and skill sets. When you are interested in a job you have one opportunity to gain the attention of a prospective employer and it is done when you submit your resume. Within a matter of minutes (or more likely seconds) someone will visually scan the resume and make a determination of your potential candidacy for an open position.

It is possible that the person who will make this assessment of your qualifications may not know the specifics of the job you've applied for beyond the actual job description, and for better or worse that means your resume must stand out in a way that ensures you are able to move beyond that initial screening. To accomplish this goal you must have a well-designed, well-formatted, and well-written resume that markets your skills, experiences, and education in a manner that creates a connection to the open position. Unfortunately, most resumes resemble DIY projects that are easily overlooked and quickly discarded by recruiters. When you consider the highly competitive nature of most careers, you cannot afford to have a resume that sells yourself and/or your career short.

Misconceptions about Resumes

One of the first misconceptions is that a Resume Writer should have samples and templates available to share with prospective clients. I can describe the method I use but I cannot share resumes I've completed due to a signed confidentiality agreement. More importantly, I don't have samples as every resume I write is custom-developed and designed for each new client. Another misconception is that a resume has to be limited to a single page. What happens is that people who take this approach will use small font sizes and/or try to fill the one page with so much wording that it becomes almost impossible to read, and for most resumes, it sells the person's career short. For those candidates who have developed significant career experience, it is not unlikely that their resume will consist of two or three pages of content. Of course, the caveat is that it should not be pages filled with verbose wording and hard to read paragraphs that have been typed in a small font size. A resume must be easy to read and highlight the best of a person's career, from their skills to their accomplishments.

Reasons for Misconceptions

Another misconception involves the cover letter, which is often written as several paragraphs in length for people who believe a lot is required on that first introductory page. But that defeats the real purpose of a cover letter and minimizes the time a recruiter is likely to spend reading the resume. A cover letter only needs to express interest in a position and generate a desire within the recruiter to read the attached resume. The underlying reason for these misconceptions is due to the unlimited number of online articles and posts written about resumes, along with templates and samples that are easily accessible. Whenever someone begins to sort through all of these resources the end result is often a patchwork of various themes and styles. What makes this worse is that there are few people who can write objectively about their career and the jobs they have held. As an example, I've written resumes for sales professionals and even professional writers. In addition, many people lack exemplary writing skills. It is not uncommon to observe resumes with uneven font sizes and errors with spelling, grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and other mechanical errors. I've also observed verbose wording, jobs written like a standard job description, and clichés (thinking outside of the box, being a team player, etc.).

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