10 Mistakes Usually Fresh Graduates Do in Their Resumes

You are a graduate and still wondering as to why you didn’t score a job yet? Well, maybe you are doing something wrong. Have a read, and you just might be able to get the next job you apply for.

Also Read:

• 10 reasons why you didn’t get interview call for the job!
• 15 Exceptional Resumes from all over the Internet

1. Not having clear goals: If you want to work for an advertising agency, then you must state that clearly as your goal. You must have clearly defined goals, precisely matching your skills and job responsibilities. It increases, not only your chances of being selected, but also helps you staying focused on your goals.
2. Spelling and grammar blunders: With the amount of spell checking software’s available in the market and online, you just cannot make a spelling blunder. Not possible. At least, don’t do that on your CV. You have worked four to five years for your CV. Make them count.
3. Points of Sale: Treat your CV as your point of sale. If you are not going to play your selling points to your potential, then you’ll end up being overlooked by the recruiter. List your key selling points in clear and concise manner, in relation to the job you are applying for.
4. Complicated layouts: When employers are recruiting fresh graduate, they often have numerous CV’s to browse through. If the layout is not clean, simple and easy to read, the recruiters won’t waste time trying to go through a complicated CV layout.
5. Professional Profile: Nowadays, including a LinkedIn profile link in your CV is seen as a blessing in disguise. Recruiters find it easy to browse through your profiles, rather than your hard copy CV’s. Keep your LinkedIn updated as well, it only adds to your chances of getting the job.
6. Formatting errors: If your CV is written in an inconsistent format with errors related to spelling and grammar, it shows that you are not paying attention to details and are not interested. Properly format your CV with same fonts and font sizes. Use Times New Roman or Arial Black, with a size 12 for headings and 10 for material inside, and it should be consistent all around, with proper paragraphing and indentation.
7. CV being short or too long: As a fresh graduate, you have a margin of only 2 pages when you are applying for a job. For an internship, it goes down to one page. Anything longer than this will include irrelevant information and would remain a dust in the pile. Make sure that your CV contains only relevant information for the role you are applying for.
8. Include relevant coursework: You are a fresh graduate, without any proper experience (internships do not count as experience). So, in order to sell your skills, you need to include the relevant course work you have done during your academic career. It can be an extra-curricular or project reports, if it’s related to the job you are applying for, include it in the CV.
9. The dreaded References: You are fresh graduate, applying for a job. There’s no way you can furnish references upon request. Unless and otherwise, stated clearly in the application, that you are required to provide references, only then you may provide references with details. Otherwise, it does not sound professional to write “References would be provided upon request.”
10. An out of order Resume: If you are fresh graduate, you cannot list your experience before your education. Order is important. You must list your projects, reports, achievements and skills in an order best suited for the being applied for. It increases the chances of the content being actually looked upon, rather than being flipped over.