How Not to Make a First Impression

Human resources professionals have limited time and attention to review job resumes. According to an August 24, 2018 nationwide CareerBuilder survey of more than 1,100 industry-wide hiring managers and HR professionals, the majority spend less than a minute looking over the typical offering.

According to the survey, job-seekers thus eager to stand out from the crowd have ill-advisedly submitted resumes:

• With every sentence typed in a different font type;
• Comprised of a single sentence;
• Claiming to have had the same number of marriages as prior jobs;
• Listing 40 different jobs in one year;
• Consisting of a credit application; and
• Asserting the same employment dates for every job listed

The surveyed professionals identified three common resume errors/deal breakers: (i) spelling mistakes or bad grammar (77 percent); (ii) inappropriate email address (35 percent); and (iii) no mention of quantifiable results (34 percent).

All joking aside, hiring managers must avoid making mistakes during the job application process such as:

• Photographing the job applicant;
• Requesting a social security number by mail;
• Obtaining information concerning sex, gender, gender identity or gender expression;
• Asking for salary or criminal history; or
• Requesting social media account access (i.e. username or password).

See also:

• California’s Ban Clarified on Applicant Salary History (August, 2018)
• Private or Social? (September, 2018)
• California Adopts Ban the Box Law (October, 2017)
• Asking for Job Applicants Age is a NO-NO (August,2017)

For more information, please contact one of our attorneys Tim Bowles, Cindy Bamforth or Helena Kobrin.

Cindy Bamforth

October 3, 2018