I wrote about Resumes a few weeks ago, thinking that people knew the basics. I was wrong. I've been a recruiter for a short short time of two weeks now, and people are just so, so clueless for the most part. Some people have an amazing grasp on what they're doing, and others just make me sad. Someone didn't even put their name on their careerbuilder.com profile or resume - which was unfortunate because the resume was good enough for me to have actually called them about a position.

People make the simplest of mistakes and that could cost them everything. You might be the best person for the job, but if you're resume is riddled with small errors it demonstrates big problems. Your resume is the most important paper in your job searching life. It should represent the best possible version of you no matter where it is - including big job sites like careerbuilder, little niche boards, or simply just handing it to friends.

In the past few weeks these are some reasons I have passed over qualified candidates for excellent jobs in the IT, Financial, and Marketing worlds:

1) Missing Name on resume (Goes without saying right?)
2) Spelling mistakes (Didn't review your work. Always asks friends to help)
3) High School Education Information (Don't care if you're 21 or 38, NO HS INFO)
4) OLD Part Time jobs that have NOTHING to do with what you want
5) *Terrrrrrible generic objectives
example - "I'm a motivated worker who wants a challenging job in Finance to utilize my incredible skills." Obviously. Don't waste the resume space.

Now, on the flip side, I have seen some incredible resumes - to the point where I might actually redo mine. Things such as:

1) Incredible, clear layouts. Lots of white space, titles clearly outlined, dates perfectly lined up & detailed
2) Graphs of keywords. LOVE this. Outlining experience with specific items from job descriptions is the BEST way to get noticed.
3) *A very detailed Objective. Something poignant and close to the job description shows me you're a decent writer, and know what you're after.
4) Bullet points that make sense (don't use words you don't know)
5) Experience that matches the job descriptions, at LEAST in the same field.

*Objectives were used in both my good and bad resumes. They're tricky. If you don't feel that yours is specific and demonstrates your best qualities - do not use it. Consult others before submitting your resume and using an objective.

There are hundreds of good resume builders out there. Use them. If you can't afford one, ask 10 of your qualified working friends to review it before you send it anywhere. You will get a lot of mixed feedback, but from that you can gather what HR/Recruiters would be saying right off the bat. Better to have a friend judge you than someone who's in charge of your employed money making future.

Good Luck, Get Hired, Be Smart, Think it Through.