| Hints on how to get a résumé ignored Messy paper and misspelled words are among the things that turn off potential employers
By Carol Kleiman Job seekers often are in the dark about
what happens after they send in their résumés.
How carefully the résumés are read is the No. 1 question, and no one
can answer it. But the second general concern is what do the people who
read it look for? What do they care about? One manager who frequently
advertises and is inundated with résumés gives us a look into what turns
off a potential employer.
She asks her name not be used in listing the things done by
"applicants who don't get a chance with me."
The mistakes: 1. A company-metered envelope. "The applicant is using company
postage to apply for a job. If I hire that person, will he pay his bills
and send correspondence through our company meter, too? It's a red flag to
me and probably is unethical." 2. Sloppy-looking résumés. Some come in wrinkled, some on fax paper,
are printed off-center. Some people forget to include a cover letter, so
they quickly are forgotten, too.
3. Words misspelled. Applicants have incorrectly spelled words such as
personnel, position and, ironically, accuracy.
4. Skills don't match the ad. Do these people just send out résumés
blindly and expect a response? "They get no call from me," she
says.
An additional point the manager makes: The neatness and accuracy of the
envelope often is more important to her than the résumé. And, after all,
the envelope is your first impression. |