Peter Newfield, president of Career Resumes of Goldens Bridge, New York, has compiled a list of top ten resume mistakes, and it's a good one.
In paraphrased form (and with some tweaks and emendations by this author), they are: 1- Including an "Education" or "Objective" section at the top of the resume. For anyone with more than three years of work experience, this is
a faux pas. [Editor's Note: An objective section is a mistake for all.] 2- Thinking that omitting dates will convince employers to overlook your job-hopping. In fact, it alerts them that you want to hide something. 3- Focusing your bullets on your job responsibilities rather than accomplishments. Very important! 4- Using a purely chronological approach when you have changed industries or fields a few times. A more effective approach creates order out
of chaos by grouping the jobs under relevant industry or skills headers, such as "Investment Management," "Accounting," etc. 5- Stating the reason why you left a given job, especially if it was a negative reason. 6- Including personal information such as marriage status, hobbies, ethnicity, age, or gender. 7- Exhaustively including every single job you've ever had. Jobs that are not relevant to the position you seek or are caked with cobwebs can
simply be listed (under the heading "Other Employment," for example) rather than given a full section. 8- Not considering the resume's appearance: neatness and clean design (lean toward the conservative) do count. 9- Creating a single, one-size-fits-all resume and sending it to every employer in the universe. Be selective about where you send your resume
and tailor it to likely employers as much as possible. 10- Sending a resume but no cover letter.
| 
