This document summarizes a presentation on avoiding résumé pitfalls. The key points are: the purpose of a résumé is to market yourself to potential employers by highlighting your accomplishments and skills; résumés are often rejected due to inconsistencies, incomplete or misleading details, or mechanical errors like poor grammar, punctuation or formatting; and as technical communicators, attention to detail on one's résumé is important because the résumé serves as a writing sample that could impact job performance if full of errors. The document encourages creating a master résumé, getting it reviewed, and regularly updating it.

1. 1
Avoiding Résumé Pitfalls
Presented by:
Cheryl Landes
Tabby Cat Communications
2009 STC-PMC Conference
March 28, 2009
Agenda
Introduction
Purpose of a résumé
Why résumés are rejected
Why your résumé must be perfect
Résumé mistakes
Exercise
How to avoid résumé pitfalls
Conclusion
Introduction

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What’s the purpose of a
résumé?
What’s the purpose of a résumé?
It’s a marketing piece.
It introduces you to potential employers or
clients.
It highlights your accomplishments and
skills.
It convinces the screeners to invite you to
an interview.
Why are résumés rejected?

3. 3
Why are résumés rejected?
The candidate’s experience doesn’t match
the employer’s or client’s needs.
The candidate’s roles and responsibilities
in previous jobs aren’t clear.
Details are inconsistent, misleading, or
incomplete.
The résumé contains mechanical errors.
After we found candidates with experience
matching our job requirements, we rejected
more than 95% of those résumés because
of mechanical problems.
Why must a technical
communicator’s résumé be
perfect?

4. 4
Why must a technical
communicator’s résumé be perfect?
Our résumés are writing samples.
If we don’t pay attention to the details on
our résumés, how well can we perform
our jobs?
Mechanical Problems
Grammar
Punctuation
Sentence structure and flow
Parallelism
Typos
Other Problems
Contradictory or misleading information
Missing information
Jargon not explained
Too much information
Formatting

5. 5
Exercise
Avoid résumé pitfalls!
Create a master résumé.
Proof it, correct it, set it aside, and repeat.
Ask a colleague to review it.
Update it on a regular basis.
Contact Information
Cheryl Landes
Tabby Cat Communications
4742-42nd Avenue SW #512
Seattle, WA 98116-4335
(206) 937-2488
tabbycatco@aol.com
http://www.tabbycatco.com