What Kind of Resumes I Hate to See?

We are always looking for talented people for our team. Also, while our business is going up (like now) some roles are all the time open for new candidates.

I usually review 30-50 resumes almost every day. Unfortunately, less than 10% of the applicants succeed to catch my attention. Most of the applications I remove or just ignore.

The common thing between all of them is that they (their authors) do not respect my time and/or are not relevant to the role I am hiring for.

Here are some of the signs that push me to hit the DELETE button (or close my eyes):

Irrelevant

If the job role is announced as “E-commerce Graphical Designer” don’t even try to apply if your experience is with creating posters and menus for restaurants. Your skills are irrelevant. I cannot afford to spend lots of time in teaching you the specifics. Maybe you think you know how to do it. You  don’t. Your CV will end up in the bin.

Not Matching the Key Requirements

If I say “Expert knowledge and experience in Photoshop” I expect you to be the god of Photoshop, not someone who has experience with Canva, but is a “quick learner”. 

Bad Formatting and Design

If your resume is ugly, it goes to the trash folder. If you don’t have a basic taste how to prepare a simple document to look nice and readable, I don’t want to work with you. You don’t match my style. We don’t share same values.

No Links and Resources for Further Research

I need to know more about you. If you don’t make it easy for me to see your website, read your blog, browse your social media profiles, I won’t do it. If I don’t learn whatever I need to know about you, I will skip to the next candidate. It is as simple as that.

No Portfolio Link Provided

If you are applying for a design-related role, the first thing I do is to find your portfolio link and see what can you do in the real life. If I don’t find it in 3 seconds, your resume goes south. If you are applying for a non-design position, you still need to demonstrate a track record of achievements. It is up to you to find a way to do it and make it easy for me to see it.

Long and Descriptive

Look, I’d love to read more about you, but I don’t have too much time. Please, use as few words as possible, be straight to the point and make the text easily readable. Use bullets. Use pictures. Put an order and structure. If I cannot read something I just skip it. You lose an advantage.

No Photo

I know that in some countries, using a photo is not mandatory. Anyway, I will find your photo on social media or linked in. It is up to you to make my life easier (and save my time) by letting me know who am I dealing with as early as opening your resume.

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Managers (and recruiters) have a very tight attention span being overloaded with tons of tasks. If you want to attract their attention (and hold it long enough), try to highlight the exact things they are looking for, save their time and make their life easier. They (we) will appreciate that.