The Most Common Resume Mistake

The Most Common Mistake: Copy & Paste

Regardless of position-level, the most common mistake across the board that professionals make on their resume is the copy & paste method. This is when you copy your job description and paste it onto your resume in bullet point format to showcase your experience. 

If you’re wondering…

“Hey, I think that’s what I did, what's wrong with that?”

You’re not alone!

This is a commonly used method that may appear as a way to provide an all-encompassing look at your past experiences but quite often that is not the case. It is actually doing the exact opposite. 

This method is counter-productive because instead of fully encompassing your experiences, you provide a lackluster overview of your job function. It is difficult for a recruiter or hiring manager to get a full understanding of your day-to-day tasks, successes, outcomes, or those “above and beyond” moments if you only copy and paste your job description. Those “above and beyond” moments are going to be what sets you apart from the other applicants. When your reader struggles to find those, or just sees a generalized description of your job duties, they are not being clued into your work experience.

What To Do Differently 

 Instead, use the job description as a framework for your resume. When I look over your job description, I pull about 50% of it to put on your resume. The rest of what I fill in is your experience. Your experience is what truly encompasses your accomplishments, opportunities, and outcomes. 

If your resume is only sharing half of your experiences (or, yikes!, even less), then that is all your reader will know. This may cause your reader to toss your resume aside, not because you aren’t qualified or fit what they are looking for, but because your resume does not represent your experiences in an appropriate manner.

My goal is to create an impactful resume that reflects your talents, skills, and interests. Together, we will create a resume that shares the real you. 

Where The Resume Fox Comes In 

By incorporating parts of your job description, I’m able to emphasize key tasks for your position that employers will look for and recognize. Combining that with your experiences, your resume presents an all-encompassing highlight reel that showcases your outcomes, successes, and additional duties as assigned.

If you’re ready to level up your resume to highlight your skills, experiences, successes, and outcomes, then contact me today! Don’t wait and keep using the copy & paste method – leave it to the professional to let your resume shine brighter than all of the others!