The Worst Resume Advice
The Worst Resume Advice
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A couple of years ago, I wrote The 10 Worst Resume Suggestions You Ever Received. It is time to update that list with a few more examples of the world’s worst resume advice for job hunters.

  1. Do not say anything that sounds like bragging. Then hope that companies will be awed by your lack of success, progress, and confidence.

  2. Fill your resume with acronyms so that hiring managers and recruiters are struck dumb with admiration. They will also feel dumb—hiring managers and recruiters do not actually understand every acronym used by every specialty in every company in the world.

  3. Do not tie yourself down to a specific job title. Leave it to hiring managers to figure out where you might fit in their company; they have nothing better to do.

  4. Do not read job postings or advertisements to get a handle on what companies are looking for. If you pile on enough achievements and skills, you are bound to be qualified for something somewhere, right?

  5. Be sure to fill social media with your complaints and rants about your current job. Hold on to your belief that constant complainers are high on everyone’s list of best employees or that hiring managers never consult social media.

  6. Never network; ignore your friends, coworkers, family, and peers when you are job hunting. Stick to the computer and hope that the perfect job finds you.

  7. Do not proofread. Trust your online grammar and spelling checkers, which never make mistakes, like accepting fiancé when you meant to write finance.

  8. Lather on the adjectives. Who cares what you actually have accomplished as long as it was “best in class” or “unparalleled” or “state of the art” or “exceptional”?

  9. Do not check your contact information. Trust that you will never transpose a number, write different email addresses on different pages, or abbreviate your state the wrong way.

  10. Refuse to talk with a professional resume writer. What do professionals know anyway?


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