The biggest resume turn-offs revealed

WHEN writing your resume, it’s easy to get carried away listing your every achievement. These are the things you definitely shouldn’t include.

Actor Steve Carrell in a scene from TV series 'The Office'.

WHEN writing your resume, it’s easy to get carried away listing your every achievement. But should you?

Volunteer experience, grade point average and schools attended are the least important factors hiring managers consider when deciding whether to bring a job candidate in for an interview, according to a study from the Addison Group staffing firm.

Job seekers would also be better served by not detailing their entire professional experience. The research revealed that 55 per cent of hiring managers think resumés should cover only the past 10 years of a candidate’s experience, and that they view anything more as irrelevant.

Even though job seekers often spend time carefully crafting the perfect cover letter, more than 80 per cent of the hiring managers surveyed said they don’t weigh the cover letter as heavily as other parts of the hiring process, such as the resumé itself, the interview and references.

So, what do hiring managers focus on, then? They do pay close attention to whether a resumé was targeted to the position: 90 per cent of survey respondents said they notice when a resumé isn’t tailored to the role.

Job candidates also need to make sure they thoroughly edit their resumés. The study found that 55 per cent of hiring managers believe typos are the biggest resumé turn-off, and 46 per cent said they hate unprofessional resumé formats.

Peppering a resumé with buzzwords also isn’t the best way to get a hiring manager’s attention. Specifically, 47 per cent of those surveyed don’t like seeing the word “expert,” 40 per cent hate “synergistic” and 31 per cent dislike when “innovative” is included in a resumé.

To stand out in a positive way, job seekers should focus on their references and soft skills, the research revealed. Nearly as many hiring managers view a candidate’s professional references just as important, if not more so, than the resumé itself.

Additionally, 41 per cent of hiring managers rated interpersonal skills and overall demeanour as important factors in the hiring process.

It also may be helpful for job seekers to tailor their approach to the age of the hiring manager, as different generations value certain aspects of a resumé and the hiring process more than others. The research shows that proven results and references are more important to baby boomers than to millennials, whereas millennials focus more on a candidate’s level of education. Gen X hiring managers value a candidate’s resumé significantly more than millennials do, with millennials trusting Facebook and Twitter to identify candidates significantly more than the other two generations of hiring managers.

“Trends in hiring manager preferences change over time, especially as the workforce is becoming more and more dominated by the millennial generation,” Addison Group CEO Thomas Moran said in a statement.

The study was based on surveys of 505 employees responsible for hiring in some capacity at their company.

This article originally appeared on BusinessNewsDaily.

Originally published as The biggest resume turn-offs revealed