You might have a lot of experience behind you, but that won't always equate to a quick and easy job search. This is particularly true if the recruiting landscape has changed significantly since you were last job hunting.
In order to increase your chances of landing your next role, you need an impressive and carefully crafted resume.
While that seems straightforward enough, far too many senior professionals will fall into these common resume-writing traps. So here are five resume mistakes you need to avoid in 2023.
Sticking with a resume objective
When you first began writing your resume, it’s likely that you started with a resume objective, outlining your aspirations for your career. But if your resume still opens with an objective rather than a statement, this needs to change right away.
For one thing, modern resumes tend to favor summaries over objectives. A big reason for this is that objectives focus only on what you want and your needs, which isn't what employers want to see.
What’s more, your career is already off to a good start, so this is your chance to open your resume with a powerful statement that showcases what you can bring to the table and how you can add value to the business.
Essentially, you need to avoid anything that says ‘I want to’ and replace this with your most relevant or impressive achievements, skills, and experiences.
A lack of facts and figures
If you've been in the business a while, you will have a long list of accomplishments behind you, but the best way to really demonstrate these is to quantify them with facts and figures.
Sure, you might have achieved a lot in your career; you might be leading a successful team and bringing in a huge amount of revenue - but how is the recruiter supposed to know that?
You must give specific details and figures to highlight your value. For example, instead of saying you brought in revenue, give the exact figure, or if you led a team, tell them how big the team was.
Poor formatting
Having a poorly formatted resume can negatively impact your application for a number of reasons. For one thing, it makes it much harder for the recruiter to scan through and find the information they need.
So if you forget to use subheadings and bullet points, or if your font is too small, you might find the recruiter simply sets your resume aside without reading. After all, they are busy people and they only spend an average of six to eight seconds scanning each application.
Another more modern issue is that formatting mistakes can make your resume less compatible with ATSs and if your resume fails to get past an ATS, it could cost you the job.
The best way to get around this is to pay close attention to detail and ensure you choose a simple and readable layout. You should also be consistent in your design, such as the size of your text, headings, and subheadings.
Make sure you don't fall into these common resume-writing traps.
A resume that is too long
As a senior professional, you’ll have plenty to shout about. The mistake is thinking that you need to include every single detail on your resume as this could result in it being several pages long.
A lengthy resume can also be off-putting for recruiters. Firstly, because they are busy people and secondly, because the relevant skills and experiences will be lost somewhere in the large volume of unnecessary information.
While reducing your impressive career down to one page might be too tough, you should keep it to two pages. To do this, only include the most engaging and relevant information.
If you’re feeling stuck, you can use the job description to determine which information to include and which to forgo. This will also help you tailor your application to the specific position and company.
Not utilizing keywords
Finally, another reason to use the job description to guide you is to ensure you are utilizing keywords. Too many senior professionals will focus on the key skills and qualities they deem to be most important in their field, rather than listening to the employer.
Although you understand what is required to be good at the job, it’s best to scan through the job description and highlight the keywords that apply to you. Again, this will also help you to effectively tailor your application.
Then, be sure to pepper these throughout your resume. This will also help you to get your application past an ATS, as the recruiter will also enter these keywords into the software to narrow down the list of applicants.
Just be aware, this doesn’t mean throwing in keywords in random places to try and boost your chances. Be sure to write engaging copy and utilize these keywords in the relevant sections.
When you're a senior professional with a lot to talk about, updating your resume can feel like a big laborious task. But with careful planning and utilizing the right information, you can ensure you don’t make any unfortunate and costly mistakes.
