Most Common Resume Blunders

Spelling, punctuation and grammatical mistakes tell employers that you don’t pay attention to details.

Simply running a spell checker over your resume isn’t enough. You could end up with a sentence like this: “Please find the attached resume that highlights all my kills.”
In an International survey, 76 percent of executives said that one or two typos in a resume are enough to nix an applicant’s chances.
“Reading your resume out loud line by line makes it easier to catch mistakes”. “It only takes a few minutes but it could make a huge difference.”

Using buzzwords like results-oriented, team player and motivated could kill your chances.
Adjectives like innovative, motivated and dynamic have been used so often that they’ve lost their impact. Steer clear of these words whenever possible and focus on quantifying your contributions instead.
Top 10 overused buzzwords
1.Extensive experience
2.Innovative
3.Motivated
4.Results-oriented
5.Dynamic
6.Proven track record
7.Team player
8.Fast-paced
9.Problem solver
10.Entrepreneurial

Mistaking responsibilities for accomplishments will greatly reduce the impact of your resume.
Simply listing your responsibilities without illustrating how you have made a difference at a company won’t cut it.
“I’m particularly surprised by senior executives who just list their positions and responsibilities without quantifying their accomplishments”. “If you want attention, explain how you brought value to a company. Don’t just tell me that you did your job.”

Paragraphs that are packed with long sentences are a pain to read.
Breaking up your sentences with bullet points makes it easier for readers to scan your resume. But keep it short. “Stick to 3 to 5 bullets per job and try not to exceed 5 sentences per bullet”.

Irrelevant hobbies could make you appear strange rather than well-rounded.
“Unless it is a hobby or activity that complements the position, there’s really no reason to include what you do on your spare time”. “Charities that you support or a membership in a professional association are a better fit.”  Other executives said they mainly focus on the applicant’s work history or skills, so think twice before listing your interests.

Using an unprofessional email address is childish.
Using a humorous email address full of nouns and adjectives might be fine for your personal correspondence, but not for a job application. “For a professional email address, just use your name”.

Submitting a resume on colored paper is often a red flag to employers not to hire you.
Although most applications are now sent online, following up with a printed resume on colored paper is rarely a good idea.
Colored paper can make it difficult to read the text and is simply irritating. Stick with white or maybe even cream to be safe

You’ll kick yourself if you forget your contact information.
Don’t forget to include a phone number and current address. “You’d be surprised, but sometimes even something as simple as a phone number gets overlooked”.

Nothing sends a resume to the shredder faster than addressing it to the wrong company.
Whether you’re sending it via email or snail mail, make sure you address your resume to the right company.
“It all comes down to how much care you take when replying to a job ad”. “Mistakes happen but it’s easier for an employer to just set your resume aside.”

(Business Insider Article) Mistaking responsibilities for accomplishments will greatly reduce the impact of your resume.

Mistakes companies make on Jobspecs include

• typing and formatting: this is something so easy to fix with today’s technology, errors in typing and sloppy formatting do not give the potential employee a good impression about the professionalism of the company
• vague and/or long job descriptions: long and vague job descriptions that do not actually specify what the job requirements are will attract all the wrong candidates, resulting in a lot of waste of time having to wade through unsuitable CVs, rather be specific, state all the non-negotiable requirements clearly first, then add the nice to haves.

For example

• if you need a candidate with a master’s degree in chemistry, ask for it, do not ask for a tertiary scientific qualification only
• if you need somebody with 10 years experience in production management in the decorative paint industry, who has managed teams of at least 100 people, ask for it in so many words
• if you need somebody who has sold prop shafts to the mining industry for trucks and heavy equipment, specify that, you don’t want all the candidates who have ever sold a prop shaft for a passenger vehicle to apply

• incorrect job descriptions: many job descriptions make the job look more desirable, mundane or not so nice duties are suppressed or not even mentioned, after a few months the new employee often leaves because the position is nothing like the job description, therefore describe the job fully, with warts and all, much cheaper than training another new employee

Mistakes made by jobseekers in CVS

The following are either involuntary or voluntary mistakes, errors, incorrect information found in CVS

Your CV is your first sales tool in your efforts to “sell yourself” to a potential employer, making sure your CV is as perfectly presented as possible and as correct as possible is definitely worth the effort

1. Typing, grammatical and formatting errors

a. these are totally preventable errors, in these days of spellchecking, typing errors should be a thing of the past

b. make sure you do a spell check, ask somebody else to proof read your CV, or read the CV from bottom to top, this often helps to notice errors easier

c. send out your CV in PDF format, the formatting of Microsoft Word and other such documents can get jumbled up if the potential employer opens your document in a different program

2. Length of CV

a. make sure you summarise your CV

b. use bullets

c. do not leave empty lines

d. unless you apply for any type of artistic position, do not insert pretty pictures

e. if you are an engineer and wanted to insert a picture of a plant, process diagram etc, rather do that in an appendix

f. make sure you add as many facts as possible, but use simple, short, powerful statements, you’re not writing a novel

g. check with the norm is for the country that you sending your CV to and for the type of position that you are applying for, in the USA they want extremely short CVS, in South Africa a CV that is 3 to 4 pages long is quite acceptable

3. Confidential information

a. make certain you do not divulge confidential information

b. if you mention projects that you have handled, clients you have dealt with, think carefully about what information is confidential and what is allowed in the public domain

c. do not divulge any financial information about your current employer

4. Reasons for leaving

a. make sure you add reasons for leaving for each company that you have worked for, but be careful how you word your reason for leaving statement (rather than saying “working conditions were atrocious”, say something like “wanted less strenuous working conditions”)

5. Incorrect information on CV

a. make absolutely certain that all information on your CV is correct

b. do not change starting and ending dates of jobs you have held, for example, if you were retrenched and held 3 or 4 contract jobs before securing another permanent position, group the contract jobs together under the heading “contract positions” and add a statement that you held various contract positions until you were able to secure a permanent job. Making employment periods of either the previous job or the next job longer can get into trouble when employment periods are verified by the recruiter/potential employer

c. do not exaggerate or blatantly lie about your position and duties

d. provide full details about referees, never try and pretend your good buddy at the company where you were dismissed was actually your manager to get a good reference, rather be honest about such mishaps

e. ensure your remuneration details are correct, most potential employers ask for a pay slip

f. make sure information about qualifications is correct, if you have not completed the qualification make it clear that you still have subjects outstanding to complete the qualification

g. add achievements or career highlights to your CV but again, make sure there are your achievements and not your managers, colleagues etc, do not claim an achievement for yourself if you were part of the team

h. if you get caught out, you will definitely not get that job you want, potential employers value honesty above all

Bad email habits

I was sent this via email and thought it really interesting:

Are bad email habits wasting your time? Are bad email habits distracting you, wasting your time, and causing miscommunications with clients, employees and others? Making a few simple changes to the way you handle email will help you improve focus, save time, and communicate more effectively.
Here are five bad email habits that could be holding you back—and positive alternatives to get you moving forward.

Bad habit #1: Sending emails late at night, early in the morning, and on weekends. This sends clients the message that you’re on call 24/7, so they treat you that way—which ultimately stresses you out. It also sends employees the message that you expect them to be on call 24/7—which stresses them out.
Instead, try: Limiting the hours during which you and your employees send work-related emails. Prohibiting email from, say, 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., will give everyone time to unplug, rest, and recharge.

Bad habit #2: Using email to discuss topics best suited to other means of communication. Overly complicated emails lead to confusion, while scheduling meetings by email leads to endless chains of “reply all.”
Instead, try: Finding alternate ways to communicate complex or sensitive subjects. Use calendar tools to plan meetings, IM or chat to discuss simple topics, and phone or in-person conversations to deliver bad news or hash out complex issues.

Bad habit #3: Setting alerts to be notified of every incoming email. Getting pinged every time you receive an email is distracting and makes you less efficient and productive.
Instead, try: Turning off alerts (unless you’re waiting for a very urgent email). Set specific times to check email, such as in the morning, before and after lunch and in the late afternoon.

Bad habit #4: Using vague, unclear subject lines. Generic subject lines like “Hey” or “Meeting” or “Question” require recipients to open the email to see what it’s about and makes it harder to search for relevant emails later on.
Instead, try: Using specific, detailed subject lines to speed comprehension and save time.

Bad habit #5: Sending overly long and complex emails. With more users checking email on their mobile phones, an email that’s too long will likely never get read—it will just get ignored.
Instead, try: Limiting email length to five brief sentences, max. When more detail is necessary, use attachments.
Also consider using email rules to automatically sort incoming messages so you can focus on the most important ones first, and unsubscribing to emails you no longer want to receive (instead of just deleting them every day). By changing your bad habits, you’ll gain control of your email, become more productive, and communicate more clearly with employees, partners, and customers.

How to write a brilliant profile, introduction to your CV, CV summary or cover letter

It does not matter what you call it, but as this is the first item that the potential employer will read when they open your application it is crucially important to spend some time on it and to write a concise factual profile summarising your qualifications and your career so far, future career plans or aspirations, list skills and expertise, briefly describe your personality, write at least some of it in narrative format to show that you can express yourself clearly and in a concise manner, you can use bullets to highlight information that you want to make sure is noticed.

Make sure you state facts: list years of experience, state the size of the teams that you have managed, the size of budgets you have compiled/controlled, how many projects and at what value have you managed and completed on time and in budget (for example: I have 10 years experience in operations management in the chemical industry leading teams of up to 500 OR in the last three years I managed 5 projects of between 7 to 10 million Rand which were completed on time and within budget)

Do not use descriptions like: highly organised, strong business sense, result orientated, highly accomplished, dynamic leader, good communicator and similar platitudes – they are not facts but opinions, these are overused statements, they sound like canned selling, there are no numbers and statistics, a potential employer wants to see facts and proof.

How to answer some of the most important questions in an interview

Employers are now frequently using performance based interview questions and it is important that you are well equipped in the interview.

1. Practice describing and demonstrating each of your strengths with an example (about 4 ) Keep the answers short – interviewers mostly remember the examples you give. Practice this at home before the interview so that it ties together and becomes real i.e. add dates, facts and specific details.

2. Think about your weaknesses and describe how you overcame each and how you are dealing with your weaknesses. Saying you do not have any weaknesses means you cannot become better at whatever you currently doing.

3. Be honest and do not fake your achievements.

4. Ask the interviewer about critical challenges involved in the job you are being interviewed for. Think about any of your achievements that required solving as similar problem.

This will help you get the job you deserve!

Tips for employers to recruit great staff

The recruitment process is a long process and the following tips will help in employing the very best candidates for your company.
1. Do not make unreasonable demands.
2. Do not make snap judgments
3. Give unemployed people a chance, do not assume that the unemployed are not good employees.
4. Do not judge by appearance
5. Do background checks

If you are looking for good employees the employment process needs to be done with a positive attitude and an open mind. We at Elchemie will make recruitment easier for you by screening and short listing only the best candidates, interviewing them and conducting reference checks

Case history – Applying for jobs you don’t qualify for

What you should never do in an interview

Questions to ask in an Interview