4 Signs Your Resume Isnt Ready to Be Submitted

4 Signs Your Resume Isnt Ready to Be Submitted 4 Signs Your Resume Isnt Ready to Be Submitted 3You’ve found it- the perfect job. You’re immediately overcome with a sense of urgency. You need to submit your materials before the application period closes or there’s way too much competition ahead of you in the pipeline. You’re ready to hit that “submit” button and cross your fingers that you hear something in response. But wait! First, you need to slow down and make sure that your resume is equally as perfect as that job. Four signs your resume isn’t ready to be submitted: 1. You haven’t proofread it yet. Here’s a pop quiz: how many mistakes or typos is your resume allowed to have? If you guessed “zero,” you’re correct. This means you need to invest a significant amount of time in proofreading your resume. Make sure to double-check areas that frequently get missed, like confirming that your employment dates are correct or changing verbs to past tense for any jobs you’re no longer working. When you’ve finished making those tweaks, read your resume backwards (from the bottom up) to force yourself to pay close attention to each and every line. You can even enlist the help of a few friends to read through your document and catch any errors that might slip right by you. 2. You haven’t compared it with the job description. The goal of your resume is to prove that you’re a relevant fit for the exact job you’re applying for, and there’s no way that one generic resume can do that for every single position. Before submitting your materials, take a fine-tooth comb to the job description and pull out any key skills or terms that are emphasized. Provided that you honestly possess those qualifications, those should be included on your own document. Not only does it draw these parallels and illustrate that you meet the qualifications, but injecting those terms will also help get you past any applicant tracking systems (ATS) the employer might have in place. 3. You haven’t tried the “six-second test.” Statistics say that recruiters spend only an average of six seconds looking at your resume before deciding whether or not to move forward with an interview. Pause and count to six right now. That’s hardly any time at all, right? In order to make an impact in this amount of time, your resume not only needs to be polished, properly formatted, and visually appealing, but it also needs to be skimmable so that the hiring manager can understand your highlights immediately. Are you calling attention to your most impressive skills at the top of your “key skills” section? Are your most relevant responsibilities listed right underneath your previous job titles? Challenge yourself to look at your own resume for only six seconds (set a timer!) and notice what things catch your attention. Don’t be afraid to move things around and try some changes so that you can make the absolute most of that short amount of time. 4. You haven’t double-checked the directions. Employers might have certain requirements for your resume. For example, perhaps they only accept PDFs or they want you to use a specific file name. Turn your attention to the application instructions one more time and ensure that you’ve followed all of them (yes, every single one of them) exactly. Failing to pay attention to those types of directions will get your resume tossed into the recycling bin without so much as a second look. When you’re excited to apply for a job, it’s tempting to send off your resume as quickly as you can. But that rapid-fire approach means you might actually apply with a document that only sabotages your chances of landing an interview. Keep an eye out for these four signs that your resume isn’t quite ready to be submitted, and then take a little more time to review and make some changes. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did. Wish you could talk over your resume with someone? SIGN UP FOR CAREER COACHING