A resume is a document on which your future depends. In this competitive world, you have to focus on each aspect of your resume very carefully. In the series of interviews, the last interview is the HR round and this round is only about your resume. This HR round has the power to make your career bright and it also has the power to destroy all your efforts which you did to come up to this step.
So, you have to take this round and your resume very carefully. Before writing a resume we always go through the internet and try to find what to do or whatnot. Because we can not take risks for our future. Here are some common resume trends to avoid for your bright future:
1. Skills point System in Resume
It is very obvious that hiring managers or recruiters like that you quantify your success. A skill point system is a system to rate their skills out of 10. Generally, job seekers think that rating themselves is a smart act. But we all know no one wants to give 4 out of 10 to their skills.
Everyone tries to rate their skills highly and it turns the hiring managers skeptical. That’s why it is vague and arbitrary. The better way to mention your skills in a resume is to write them in sentence format. Like if you are good at Microsoft you can write “Proficient in Microsoft word” or if you know photoshop you can write “Familiar with Photoshop”. This will increase the readability of your resume
2. Resume length
In a resume nothing is ideal. The length of a resume is also not ideal and it’s just a myth that resume length should be one page. The length of your resume depends not on your skills but also experience. If you are going to ask from a hiring manager, he or she will tell you that a resume more than two pages is not preferred or if you ask from an experienced person they will tell you that a one-page resume is good.
Actually, you have to avoid the length of more than two pages because we all know that hiring managers will give only 10 seconds to your resume. You can think about how many pages you can cover in 10 seconds and judge a person on this basis.
You have to make it easy for the recruiters to skim your information and quickly get your career story. Actually, a longer resume shows your poor time management skill and they judge on that basis also.
So, it’s better to write relevant things only and make it brief. You can use a simple rule for resume length that if you are more than 10 years of experienced person, your resume length can be 2 pages but if you are a fresher, then your resume should be 1 page.
3.Unnecessary use of text box
Applicant Tracking Systems(ATS) is used nowadays to track the resume of job seekers. People use text boxes to fill the space. But these text boxes are looked at as an object and ignored by ATS. Sometimes people add important information like skills, contact information, achievements, or other critical content into text boxes. When the algorithm passes your resume to check your worthiness to be selected for an interview, it might be possible that this information gets neglected. So, try to not use these text boxes.
4.Headers and Footers
Many people use headers and footers to reduce their page length. They put their important information like contact details in the header and footer. Using header and footer is good when you are submitting a hard copy of your resume but again when you are submitting an online problem occurs.
Most of the companies use AI-based ATS systems to find worthy resumes. Mostly these ATS systems cannot recognize the data from headers and footers and simply ignore them. This will affect your opportunity of getting a job. so, it’s better to avoid the use of headers and footers.
5. Columns
Using columns for symmetricity is a very common trend. Many people use this to make their resume attractive and it is also pleasant to the human eye. But what about AI-based systems like ATS? No, they are not comfortable with columns. For ATS, columns are the strings of unreadable characters. ATS can only read the plain text and record them. ATS ignores the formatted text and because of this essential information also gets neglected.
6. Use of objective statement
Section of Objective statements is out of trend now. No one is interested in this section and the inclusion of this statement shows that you are not moving with time. Instead of an objective statement, you can use a job target and professional summary. A professional summary is in trend. Your professional summary or job target should include two to four sentences that indicate your importance to the company and seems like an elevator speech.
Avoid these top resume trends to surpass your competition and make your resume look professional. By doing this you will protect your resume from the recruiter’s distractions. They will find it more professional to look at your relevant skills, experiences, and qualifications.
