A

resume is essential when looking for a job. If you don't

believe me, try conducting your job search without one. Even if

your lucky enough get an interview without a resume, you will

be faced with explaining why you do not have one when someone

ask you for your resume at the interview. More than ever

before, employers require resumes. And, more than ever before,

employers will use your resume to determine whether not to

grant you an interview.

An attractive, strategically

sound resume can speed you along on your job search. But

beware, there are strategic blunders that you can make on your

resume that will hinder your job search and, in some cases,

bring it to a screeching halt. With today's technology, nearly

everyone has an attractive print shop quality resume. However,

the keys to an exceptional resume do not lie in the appearance,

but in content and organization, i.e. strategy. How important

is resume strategy? I have witnessed qualified clients who went

literally from zero interviews to more interviews than they

could handle by changing nothing more than their resume content

and organization. If you want to get the most out of your

resume, you need to come up with a resume strategy that will

work best for you in your particular situation. Also, you must

avoid the strategic pitfalls that every resume writer needs to

be aware.

Day in and day out, I help people

evaluate their resume strategies, and after more than 19 years

of taking note of such things, here are the ten (in no

particular order) most common strategic blunders I have seen

people make on their resume:

1. Being less than a straight

shooter. I am more than a little surprised by the number of

clients I work with who want to include exaggeration or lies in

their resume strategy. Their reasoning is that everyone lies on

their resume -- that is how you get ahead. Don't believe it!

There is no surer way to put limits on a career than building

it on something less than the truth. By lying, you may

experience some short term success, but the higher up you, go

the more vulnerable you will be to exposure. Companies can

tolerate some dings, nicks, and shortcomings in your past far

more than they can tolerate being deceived or lied to. The

higher up you go, the more thoroughly you will be investigated.

Also, at the higher levels, you will run into remarkably

skilled interviewers who know how to ferret out half-truths,

lies and deceit.

2. Following old, outdated, and

inappropriate advice. One of the most common and most damaging

mistakes you can make on your resume is to continue to use the

advice from your college career advisors long after it is

relevant. They probably told you to, "Keep it to one page! Use

short bulleted phrases! Start each sentence and phrase with an

action verb!" This strategy may have worked when you were 22

years old with little or no work experience, but this advice

has an extremely short shelf-life once your career is under

way. Once you get some experience under your belt, you can

probably throw your college resume away.

3. Blindly following absolute

rules. The first rule of good resume writing is that there are

no absolutes. Any rules you have heard about resume writing can

be broken if you have a compelling reason for doing so. There

are resume writing guidelines that have evolved for practical

reasons, but they are simply guidelines, not absolute rules. If

you are getting advice that resumes should always be formatted

one way or another, or should always be a certain length, or

always contain or omit certain information, take this advice

with a grain of salt. Effective resume strategy precludes the

limitations of absolute rules.

4. Using gimmicks to get noticed.

A resume is first of all a business document. Being outrageous

to get noticed works against a qualified candidate. Employer's

value professionalism over flashiness. You can dismiss any

claims to mysteries, secrets, or tricks that will get your

resume noticed or read. Like with all forms of print

advertising it comes down to content and

organization.

5. Inappropriate style for your

industry. Many industries have evolved their own distinctive

resume style. If you don't want to look like an outsider, you

need the right resume for your area of expertise. Resumes in

some professions may be credentials based, while other

professions may have higher regard for hands-on experience.

Professions frequently have their own jargon and set of buzz

words. Here is a partial list of professional areas with their

own clear stylistic variations: technical; legal; finance;

medical; academic; entertainment; consulting;

art/music/TV/film.

6. Being overly broad. While I

can certainly understand being open to a variety of positions,

you can not come across as if you haven't a clue about what

kind of job you want. Resumes that give no direction at all are

generally useless. If you don't know what you are good at or

what you want, you cannot expect a potential employer to figure

it out for you.

7. Failure to let loose. If you

have a hard time writing good things about yourself, get some

help. Your resume needs to be as persuasive as you can possibly

make it. You are expected put your best foot forward on your

resume. Employers have no problem with that as long as you are

not telling them a bunch of lies.

8. Failure to have a Headline: A

Profile/Summary/Highlights section at the top of the resume.

Your resume should start out, in as few lines as possible, by

telling the reader why he or she should be interested in you.

Don't let any narrow-minded resume traditionalist talk you into

leaving this out of your resume. There are many reasons for

this strategy, and two compelling are: 1) It gives the

potential employer a quick snapshot of the person submitting

the resume. They know right away where you are coming from, and

have a good idea of what you have to offer them. They can then

read the rest of the resume to see if your claims are credible.

2. It gives you an opportunity to generate interest by

presenting your skills, abilities and accomplishments right at

the top of the resume in the strongest possible

terms.

9. Failure to include

accomplishments -- both tangible and intangible. The quickest

and easiest way to improve your resume is add accomplishments.

It indicates that you have done things right in the past and,

therefore, are likely to do things right in the future. If you

have been working for some time in an area where results are

quantifiable and verifiable, such as sales, your failure to

include accomplishments will be conspicuous by its absence.

Some jobs may not be quantifiable, but you can still include

intangible accomplishments. This might include participation in

projects, improving operations, formal recognition,

etc.

10. Including negative

information. You control what goes in your resume and what does

not go in your resume. Though everything that is in your resume

needs to be accurate, you do not have to put everything in your

resume. To the point: you do not have to include information

that can harm you. I like to call this "strategic omissions."

For example, if you have significant gaps in your work history,

there is no rule that you must put dates of employment on the

resume. Will this raise some eyebrows and cause you to lose

some interviews? Possibly, but you will you have to decide

which is more harmful, to include the dates or omit them. Other

common areas for strategic omissions are brief periods of

employment, jobs out of your field, jobs held more than 10

years ago, and date of

graduation.