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Top resumé blunders October 14, 2006

Posted by anand in General.
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A lot has been written elsewhere on the net about resumé blunders. Candidates have been known to lie and fake up experience on their resumé. This post is not about those resumés. This post it about the goofy stuff that I’ve seen in the resumés that I received in the past one week, ever since I posted a “Wanted Developers” ad in a reputed English daily.

Here are some of the hilarious things that I found in people’s resumes and cover letters:

  1. No cover letter – Being the considerate type, I still open up the resume to make sure that I don’t miss out on the absent-minded rockstar candidate, who probably had too much going on to remember to write a cover letter that provides a context to the mail recipient.
  2. A gazillion recipients in the CC: field – So this guy is probably desperately trying apply to any place that is hiring, be it mining or software. He just wants to get hired, no matter what. My advice to such guys would be to have some discretion. Please don’t copy everybody on the CC: list. Next time I’ll just do a Reply-All and tell everyone not to hire you ;-)
  3. A three line cover letter – It goes something like this:
    1. Current Salary: x
    2. Expected Salary: 2.5x
    3. Experience: 1 years (yes, that is what someone wrote – 1 years)
  4. Cover letter in SMS language – Bcoz eng is 2 boring, I write cv ltr in SMS lang
  5. Every acronym known to man, in the resume – Seems like this guy invented everything from the light bulb to the sliced bread, from the assembly line to the internet and that too within the 1 year he has been working in the field.
  6. ALL CAPS – I WRITE TO LET YOU KNOW THAT I AM APPLYING FOR THE POSITION. PLEASE LOOK AT THE RESUME AND GET BACK TO ME. (I am not making this up)
  7. What’s in a name – Having “wrr poiu” as your name in your email wont help your cause. Also having “2sweet2luv@xxxxx.com” won’t get you high marks with me.
  8. Resume.doc – Please don’t name your resume resume.doc. I get dozens of resumes everyday and I have to go and rename your resume to make sure it doesn’t get overwritten every time I save one from my email.
  9. Irrelevant experience – Your 2 years of burger flipping experience doesn’t count for a software developer position. Please only mention experience which has relevancy to the job that you are applying for.
  10. Funny personal details – This I find truly funny. People write all sorts of nonsensical information in here. Here is what I have come across so far (keep in mind, this position is for a software programmer)
    1. Weight/Height
    2. Tip of the day/Quote of the day
    3. Hobbies – Sleeping (If I was a mattress manufacturer, I’d hire him in a blink)
    4. Names and job titles of their parents

Comments»

1. Resume 101’s « Campuschai - October 19, 2006

[...] Anand Jain has written an insightful piece here on the do’s and dont’s of resume building. A resume is not something to be slapped together listing all the great things about yourself. Think of yourself as a company and imagine how you would like to represent yourself to the outside world. Every word has to be carefully constructed to make an overall impact with the resume. The most effective way to create your resume is online – think about it, you will be able to capture your thoughts, make corrections or even save it and come back later.(Shameless plug here – CampusChai will let you create your resume within seconds and even breaks it down to the three main areas – contact information, accomplishments and project/work history). Another common mistake is to make a resume resemble a PhD thesis. In a world of information overload, Most employers will not even go past the first page. Whatever you do, do not ever use a resume writing service. A lot of their resumes are standard templates and if a employer figures it out, it may actually work against you. [...]

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