Shawnee Love   •  
September 13, 2012

Last week, we kicked off our 4 part series on recruiting Red Flags with a few general things to watch out for.  This week, we get more specific and focus on the red flags in resumes.

Aesthetic

A resume is a personal brochure, so the first glaring flag for me is found in the overall aesthetic of the document.  Things I watch out for include:

• Tiny or too large font or a mish-mash of different fonts,
• Copious underlines, bolding, italics, and colours,
• “Funny” little pictures,
• Poor formatting,
• Endless prose,
• Large empty space or worse yet no empty space,
• Glaring spelling errors that pop off the page, etc.

I think a lot of candidates think more decorations equals more appealing, but that only works for me on Christmas trees. If a candidate doesn’t take the time to ensure the resume looks appealing I don’t want them and you probably shouldn’t either. Even if they did take the time to create a resume that is appealing to them, if it doesn’t appeal to you, don’t hire the candidate. S/he won’t be a fit.

Spelling Mistakes

With spell check and a social network full of people with nothing better to do than facebook and tweet all day, all but the most isolated basement dweller can find someone to proofread his resume.  I can put up with the odd typo especially when attention to detail isn’t a priority for the job, but more than one and the candidate shows he doesn’t care enough.

Misaligned Objective

Candidates often use the same resume when applying for different jobs.  Understandable as a time saver, but is a serious red flag if they are applying for jobs with different titles and responsibilities.  I can tell because their Career Objective section says they will make a great Sales Assistant, but I am hiring for a Territory Manager.  If a candidate doesn’t have a Career Objective that fits what I am looking for, it tells me the candidate isn’t a good fit.

Large Breaks or Too many Bounces in Work History

Breaks and bounces if warranted should be explained either in the cover letter or with a note on the resume. If they aren’t explained, assume it is because the candidate doesn’t have a great explanation.

Too Long

I am okay with candidates going beyond the recommended two pages if they have valuable job experience or education that must be shared.  However, more often than not, people who go well beyond two pages don’t have any more to showcase than their more succinct and organized competition. If they write prosy, chances are they speak the same way and that is rarely a good thing in today’s workplace.

On that note, I see that this blog is becoming prosy, so I will leave it at the 5 biggest resume red flags to help you quickly weed through candidates. Please come back next week when we will look at red flags to watch out for when interviewing candidates.