What do employers say they don’t want to see on resumes?

In a recent survey of over 2,500 recruiters across both the U.S. and Canada, ResumeDoctor.com collected feedback on their twenty biggest pet peeves when it comes to resumes. Surveyed recruiters represented many different industries/specialties. Listed below are the top ten results from the survey.

  1. Spelling errors, typos, and poor grammar
  2. Too duty-oriented,  reads like a job description and fails to explain what the job seeker’s accomplishments were
  3. Dates not included, or inaccurate dates
  4. No or incorrect contact info or unprofessional e-mail addresses
  5. Poor formatting, boxes, templates, tables, use of header and footers, etc.
  6. Functional resume as opposed to writing a chronological resume (remember, many conservative employers don’t like this format!)
  7. Overly long resumes (don’t forget to keep it to one page)
  8. Long paragraphs
  9. Unqualified candidates, candidates who apply for positions they are not qualified for
  10. Personal info not relative to the job included (age, height, etc.)