This Is The Worst Resume Ever

Peri Hansen, a principal with a recruiting firm, tells Penelope Patsuris at Forbes:

'It's the fastest way to pigeon-hole yourself,' she says. Specify 'Asset Manager' and you may not even be considered for 'Financial Planner.'

Note: We've heard people go both ways on this one.

'Keep your work history short and to the point,' CareerBuilder.com's Sara Player tells us. 'When you describe what you have achieved while in the position, try putting it in bullet form and put what is most important first.'

Lauren E. Berger at InternQueen.com says:

'Make sure you are using a font that is easy to read. Secondly, make sure you are not making the font too tiny. In a recent interview for a school study-away program, I was told my font was too tiny, and I can't say I don't agree with them. What is legible and easy to read for you is not the same for the employer, so to make sure your resume font is appropriate, have a few people read over it and make sure they can easily read it.'

The blog KovoHute gives this resume tip:

'The last thing that you want is a resume that uses some weird format. You want the content on your resume to be what stands out -- not the way it is formatted.'

'For a professional email address, just use your name,' Holly Paul, PricewaterHouseCoopers' National Recruiting Leader, tells us.

Lauren E. Berger at InternQueen.com writes:

'Not sure what tense to use? If you are still actively holding a position, all descriptions need to be in present tense. Likewise, if you are no longer holding that position, the verb tense should be in past.'

'When employers read resumes and see misleading verb tenses, it's going to make it confusing as to whether you are still holding that position or not. In relation to the verb tense, it's important that you keep the tense consistent once you have identified which tense you should be using.'

Instead of simply using terms that's on everyone else's resume --like 'innovative' and 'organised' -- discuss your specific accomplishments. How many people did you manage? How much money did you raise for a specific project? What challenges did you face in your last job?

Patsuris at Forbes writes:

'As for eye-catching design and graphics: do without them. Such ornamentation only makes your résumé more difficult to read for a hiring manager who has hundreds of others applicants to sift through. The harder you make it for someone to discern your qualifications, the less likely it is that you'll be deemed qualified. And in this electronic age, curlicues put you at a further disadvantage.'

'Nobody cares -- it's not your Facebook profile,' Player tells us.

In other words, don't put anything on your resume that's irrelevant to your job. If it's not relevant, then it's a waste of space and a waste of the company's time.

'When I see a photo on a resume I usually remove it,' Paul says. 'Race, ethnicity, and age should not be taken into account and including a photo can make that harder for someone reviewing your application.'

However, including a photo on an online resume -- such as your profile on LinkedIn -- will likely help you in your job search. Just make sure the photo is professional.

If you say 'references upon request' at the bottom of your resume, you're merely wasting a valuable line, Eli Amdur, senior coach and adviser from the Amdur Coaching and Advisory Group, tells us.

Amdur writes at Northjersey.com:

'This is not only dangerous, it's stupid. Do you really want employers calling you at work? How are you going to handle that? Oh, and by the way, your current employer can monitor your e-mails and phone calls. So if you're not in the mood to get fired, or potentially charged with theft of services (really), then leave the business info off.'

Lauren E. Berger at InternQueen.com writes:

'I've seen resumes sent as TXT files and Word files, and when they are opened up on a different computer, they appear as a jumble of text and have no formatting whatsoever.'

'Nobody wants to try and decipher a block of text that would've been a thousand times more legible if it had the proper formatting and spacing. Therefore, ALWAYS save your resume as a PDF. The only time you shouldn't is if your employer requests a particular file format for your resume and cover letter.'

Doreen Collins, a manager for global staffing quality initiatives at GE, tells Penelope Patsuris at Forbes:

'We don't like to get paper of any kind, and if we do get hard copies we just scan them into the system.'

Like most companies, GE uses an electronic résumé management system to sort through prospective candidates.

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