4 ways to not get that opportunity?

Remember the days of long letters, stamps, and postcards? Of books written in rich and elegant prose? Today, we are in the times of instant massaging, the crackberry, and email. Our communication skils are definately on the downswing.

Did you notice the spelling and grammatical errors? Maybe Alan is not as professional as he appears. Will you give him the benefit of the doubt? Or not? If he makes mistakes like this, how good of a coach could he be?

A recent study by OfficeTeam, a staffing firm that specializes in administration positions, recently did some polling on the role a resume plays in getting an interview. Here are 4 ways to not get a foot in the door:

If they found 4 typos on your resume, 97% of US and 92% of Canadian executives would not interview you;

If they found 3 typos, 91% of US and 77% of Canadian executives would not interview you;

2 errors would mean that 84% of US and 61% of Canadian executives would not interview you; and

1 error on your resume would cause 47% of US 27% of Canadian executives to refuse to give you an interview.

First impressions really do matter.

Another survey showed that most hiring managers spend less than 2 minutes scanning your resume. We live in a time-starved professional world. I say that people are not paper, however, if your paper is not in order, then you might not even get a first interview. Most professionals only write or update their resumes every 2 to 3 years, and they are often too close to the information and can miss the obvious. We have a team of certified resume coaches. CareerJoy can take the pain out of this process, and make you look great on paper. If you would like help, you can find us at http://www.careerjoy.com/services/resume.cfm.

Next week I am going to share 4 other keys to developing a great resmue (I mean resume).

This week’s 10 Minute WORKout:

Dust off your resume, and have a friend or peer take a look at it for critical feedback.

Along the road with you,

Alan Kearns