Back To Career News

PayScale’s VIP Blog Roundup: Are You Sending Your Resume Into a Black Hole?

Topics: Career Advice

Many employers rely on Applicant Tracking Systems to vet resumes, long before your information ever reaches human eyes. In a perfect world, this would be productive for all involved – employers could save time sifting through resumes, and you could be assured that your excellent qualifications made it through to impress a hiring manager. The real world, however, is different. In this week’s roundup, we look at how to use keywords to make sure your resume makes the cut, plus the decisions you’ll always regret making at work, and the 15 things to take off your resume, starting today.

black hole

(Photo Credit: NASA Goddard Photo and Video/Flickr)

Susan P. Joyce at Job-Hunt.org: The 25 Best Keywords for You in Your Job Search

Do You Know What You're Worth?

“Most software isn’t very smart or forgiving,” explains Joyce. “It won’t understand that, to be a successful administrative assistant, knowledge of Microsoft Word is required. Consequently, without that term visible in your social profile and resume, your documents or profile will not be seen by a human being. Even if you have that experience, you are invisible unless your social profile or resume includes the term being searched, like ‘Microsoft Word’ in our example.”

Learn more about keywords and how to use them, in her post.

Kat Boogaard at The Muse: 7 Decisions You’ll Always Regret Making at Work

If you often wish you had a crystal ball, Kat Boogaard understands.

“Quite simply, I’m a planner,” writes Boogaard. “And as far as I’m concerned, there’s no better way to avoid missteps and blunders now, than by seeing exactly how things will play out in the future. After all, hindsight is 20/20, right? Looking years down the road would be a surefire way to avoid any major regrets.”

Failing the development of actual future-predicting technology, there are some problems you can avoid, just by being prepared for the pitfalls in any career path. This list includes chasing only money, participating in office gossip, and much more.

Alison Doyle at About.com’s Job Searching site: Top 15 Things Not to Include in a Resume

“There are some things that simply don’t belong on your resume,” Doyle writes. “Including them can get your resume knocked out of consideration for a job before it gets a thorough review.”

Her list includes reminders about things you already know – typos, for example, will get your resume tossed – but also a few you probably don’t, including phrases that have become cliche, personal information, and even hobbies. Find out what to cut, here.

Tell Us What You Think

What’s the best career advice you’ve heard this week? We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or join the discussion on Twitter.

Jen Hubley Luckwaldt
Read more from Jen

Leave a Reply

avatar
  Subscribe  
Notify of
What Am I Worth?

What your skills are worth in the job market is constantly changing.