14 Resume Do’s and Don’ts You Should Follow

There is a right and wrong way to write a resume. Even though there is an industry standard of how a resume should be crafted, it really isn’t too difficult for someone to figure out. The best practices of resume writing can be easily done and even the things you shouldn’t do are easy to avoid. These resume dos and don’ts will help you inch closer to landing a great new role at a new company.

14 Resume Do’s and Don’ts You Should Follow

Do tailor your resume for a specific job

A resume tailor is a great way to showcase to hiring managers and recruiters that you’re a great match for them. When you tailor your resume, you’re essentially modifying and editing your resume to align with the job posting of the role to get as close to a match as possible. You don’t want it to be an exact match but you need to draw the comparisons closely enough. This might include relevant keywords in your resume’s bullet points or skills section. With Huntr, you’ll see a score to help you understand if your resume is a good match for a job. If you aren’t a good match but think you are, you’ll want to make tweaks to your resume to get closer to being a good match.

Don’t add AI content without making edits

With AI, you can create a resume faster than ever. But some people are turning towards AI at a degree that can hurt them. You’re meant to modify and edit your AI content when working on your resume. The AI is meant to guide you to help you create your resume with ease. The goal isn’t to have AI write 100% of your resume. After all, the company you’re applying for is trying to hire you, not an AI. So, when using an AI resume builder make sure to make tweaks and edits to it. Add your own metrics and accomplishments. Fill in placeholder text. Make your accomplishments sound compelling while aligning them with the job posting. The AI is meant to be a helper, it’s not meant to replace you in the job search process.

Do use a professional design or template

Huntr has several beautifully designed resume templates that you can use to help you design your resume. There are many resume templates out there. But some are a little too creative and not focused enough on your accomplishments. Your resume is going to be read by someone. And so you want something that’s professional and easy to read. Most hiring managers prefer plain black and white resumes due to their readability. But a pop of color here or there doesn’t hurt. A full-out designed resume works great if you’re a graphic designer trying to showcase your skills. But for most jobs, people just want to read your biggest career accomplishments to help them understand if you could do this job well.

Don’t exaggerate or lie on your resume

On your resume, you never want to lie or exaggerate. If you were the office intern, you probably didn’t generate one billion dollars your first four months. The biggest exaggeration people make on their resume is saying they were CEO of a company when they owned the company and were the only employee. In this case, just say you were a founder. Legally, you might’ve been a CEO, but you’re probably not going to get hired as a CEO if you start applying for those roles unless you had a decent sized headcount and revenue earnings. Avoid embellishing your skills, especially early on in your career. Don’t say you have degrees before you graduate. Avoid lying or changing your employment dates.

Do keep your resume to one page

It’s tempting to try to sell yourself on multiple pages to help convince someone to hire you. But most hiring managers scan so many resumes a day, they don’t want to read three pages about you. Keep it concise. A one page resume. If possible, keep your biggest resume accomplishments to one page. Pick three roles you’ve had recently that relate to the job you’re applying for. Then, write three bullet points for each role. You don’t need to oversell yourself. The more bullet points you have, the more likely you’re writing tasks you’ve done rather than accomplishments you’ve had. You can say a lot about your work ethic and skills in three bullet points. Focus on what you do exceptionally well and highlight those resume accomplishments as concisely as possible. If you have to carry your resume on two pages make sure it’s for an executive position rather than a mid-management or more junior role.

Don’t list every job you’ve ever held

Your resume should only include your top three most relevant jobs or your top three most recent jobs. If you’re looking to list every job you’ve ever held, you’ll probably want to add them to your LinkedIn profile. Your LinkedIn profile details your entire career timeline. You can follow LinkedIn tips to ensure your complete job history is well-organized on your profile. You can also use Huntr’s LinkedIn resume builder which imports your LinkedIn profile into a resume format. You can remove and edit any of the jobs so you only include the most relevant to your role on your resume. However, it can act as a good base resume that you pick and pull from when applying to jobs.

Do include a portfolio or additional links

When thinking about resume do’s and don’ts you should consider adding a portfolio or LinkedIn link on your resume. Keep in mind that your portfolio link should be updated and showcase your best work. Every time you look for a new job, you should consider updating your portfolio if you weren’t doing it along the way. As for LinkedIn, you should do a check on all your past comments and posts to ensure they were positive. You don’t want to include a LinkedIn link with content that’s going to land you into the reject pile. Your resume is the first document a recruiter sees, and if you want them to go into a rabbit hole into your work, you’ll want to showcase some of your best content for them to read or look through.

Don’t include information that will lead to bias

When it comes to resume do’s and don’ts you’ll want to remember that your resume is about your career and your accomplishments. While people will be hiring you, you don’t want to share anything that may be discriminatory in the early stages. For example, you don’t want to add a photo of yourself on your resume in North America. A photo is a standard practice in the EU. However, in the US it can lead to instant rejection. You also don’t want to include your political affiliation, marital status, or whether or not you have a family. These could introduce biases into the scanning process that aren’t needed. Remember, your resume is meant to just showcase that you have the skills to do a job. It’s not about whether or not you’re a cool person. You’re looking for a job you’re qualified to do, any information that doesn’t showcase your qualifications doesn’t belong on your resume.

Do write a compelling resume summary

When it comes to resume do’s and don’ts you’ll definitely want to write a resume summary that captures your personality and biggest accomplishment while explaining your value. Your resume summary can be done in about two sentences. You could use a resume summary generator to write one for you in seconds. Then, you can make tweaks to it to ensure you add your own personal spin to it.

Don’t worry about optimizing for ATS

There’s a lot of content out there that says resume builders aren’t optimized for ATS. ATS isn’t actually as complicated or sophisticated as you may think. Your resume is very likely optimized for ATS whether you create your resume in a resume builder or you create one yourself. If your resume is being blocked by ATS, you likely are getting passed up because you’ve applied for a job you’re not qualified for. If your job titles for past roles are similar to the job title of the role you’re applying for, you’ll very likely pass through an ATS filter. However, if you work in customer service and you’re applying for an engineering director position, you likely won’t pass through the ATS filtering process. It’s not the tool you created your resume on that blocks you from passing ATS filters. It’s the quality of the content of your resume. That doesn’t mean you tweak your resume to make a match happen when you’re not qualified for. If you’re looking to do a career change, your resume will still need education, skills, or projects you’ve worked on to prove you can do the job you’re applying for.

Do write accomplishments in STAR format

Your resume accomplishments need to highlight your skills and impact. While you’ll want to throw in a few crucial keywords into your bullet points, it’s important to understand that hiring managers are going to be looking for your results. What did you accomplish during your time at your last company? What was your role in that accomplishment? The STAR format stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result. What the hiring manager is most excited to see is the result. The situation sets the tone for what needed to be done. The task is the thing you need to do to get the ball rolling and your role in it. The action is what steps you actually took in the process. And the result is what you achieved, such as a KPI, target, or goal.

Don’t forget to look over your resume

Editing your resume is one of the most important resume do’s. After all, you need a human to look at your resume, so it makes sense that human eyes will help notice things that seem off, inconsistent, or include any mistakes. You might ask a family member, friend, or former colleague to look over your resume to give you feedback if you’ve been laid off or have been struggling in the job search for a while. To write a professional resume, you need to have a human touch to it. You also need to remember that humans not robots will be reading it at some point. So, it needs to be carefully written and tweaked to ensure you present yourself in the best light possible.

Do create a file name that includes your name and job posting title

A generic file name may be hard to find when hiring managers are sorting through your resume. So, be sure to name your file name your first and last name and the job posting job title. Also, you might want to also include your name on the second page of your resume in the event that your resume does extend beyond one page. Sometimes, hiring managers print resumes to view them in-person or to look at them during an interview. If their papers get all jumbled up, they might not be able to find your resume. Every job you apply for should make it easy for hiring managers to find your resume with ease. Whether it’s in their email inbox or in a jumbled pile of papers on their desk.

Don’t forget to match up your resume with your LinkedIn

A hiring manager will likely also look at your LinkedIn profile while looking at your resume. They’ll look for inconsistencies and make sure that the details line up. You could use a LinkedIn import tool like Huntr’s to ensure your LinkedIn profile perfectly matches your resume. It also makes building a resume easy, especially if you keep most of your LinkedIn bullet points. With the LinkedIn tool, you’ll be able to create consistency between your profile and your resume. Plus, you can create a resume so much faster just by using the contents of your LinkedIn profile and making a few small tweaks or adjustments.