Looking for a marketing job? You’re not going to get hired based on your resume, but you could miss a chance because of it.
We recently completed a search for a PR and Social Media Specialist. Nearly 200 candidates applied. The good news, we discovered some great candidates. The bad news, we sifted through some ugly resumes.
Next time you update your resume and apply for that dream job, try to avoid these 10 gaffes we just experienced.
- If you’re strengths are “attention to detail” and “passion for excellence,” please avoid typos (did you find the typo? ?).
- If your “anticipated graduation” is 2018 and you are applying for a job in 2021, you may need to update your resume.
- If you’re about to finish your undergrad and looking for your first job, calling out your “tremendous experience and ability to help our company” may be a stretch.
- If you are applying for a job requiring a four-year degree and three years of experience, you probably don’t make the cut if you’re still in college.
- When listing your degree and graduation year, go ahead and add the name of your university (yep, one resume missed this minor detail).
- If you are applying for a job requiring 2–3 years minimum of social media experience, and the words “social media” do not appear in your resume, we’re guessing that you’re just trying to qualify for unemployment.
- If you are seeking a PR and Social Media position and are asked the question, “Are you willing to work weekends?”—you may want to rethink before answering “No.” (Multiple applicants were guilty of this.)
- Attaching your resume, not the Cuisinart coffee maker manual, is very helpful (yes, that actually happened).
- If your favorite topic on social media is bashing your current employer, we’re probably not going to line up to be next.
- If you apply for the position and we call, text and email trying to set up an interview, please don’t ghost us. At least have the courtesy to shoot us a “not interested” text.
You are applying for a job to help market other brands. If you can’t properly position yourself, how can we trust that you can help our clients?
For all who avoided these pitfalls, congratulations! To the handful of others, better luck (and please pay more attention) next time!
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