Having a great looking resume on hand is very important when you’re looking for a job. It is your ticket to land the interview that will get you one step closer to that one job you’ve been dreaming of.
Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash
Yet, when I see or review resumes I notice some common mistakes. These mistakes could cost you your shot at getting the interview for your dream job.
I work as a UX designer and consultant. During my day job, I have to have my resume ready at all times just in case I have to present myself to a new potential client. I’ve done so on several occasions resulting in outcomes ranging from never hearing back from the interviewer to getting a phone call asking when I could start only 15 minutes after the interview.
I’ve made mistakes myself. Heck, I still do.
I’m going to share some common mistakes I see in resumes when looking at the resumes from a UX perspective. This of course doesn’t mean that these only apply to UX resumes or that you need to be a designer yourself to be able to avoid these mistakes. I’ve made these mistakes myself.
The amount of time someone looks at your resume
In addition to my point on consulting experience, I had to switch employers quite some time myself. Because of that, I had to update my resume more times than I would have liked. Also, I’ve checked many resumes while looking for new colleagues.
Therefore I know a thing or two on how recruiters and your potential employers skim through resumes just as quickly as we all scroll through social media news feeds.
On average, recruiters look at your resume for 7.4 seconds.
That’s a very short amount of time. If you want to stand out (and survive the initial round of skimming resumes), you need to make a great first impression. You have to make every second count.
#resume #ux #productivity #jobs #design