Writing a resume is not particularly easy and very few get it right. Editing and keeping out what is not required in your resume is equally important. You have so much riding on that document that there is little margin for making any errors. Here are the top mistakes that you must avoid.

Don’t Put a Picture on the Resume
A picture on your resume is a mistake, according to many resume experts. Of course, if your resume is for an industry such as acting, or modeling, your headshot means a lot. But in others, a picture can lead to instant rejection. If you want to show off your pretty click, do it on LinkedIn, not your resume. However, if you are applying outside the United States, this practice is more common on an international CV.

Don’t Use Unusual Fonts
Every candidate believes that they must try something different and unique to stand apart. Hiring managers also look for candidates with a different approach. Do not apply that to fonts. Many organizations sort resumes using some type of tracking software and prioritize them based on automated screening processes (ATS systems). They are designed to recognize commonly used fonts, but many do not process fonts that are rarely used, especially in a resume.

Also, fonts that are different from the usual ones may not be accepted by recruiters and hiring managers and may impact their decision-making process. Your resume may risk being overlooked just because you used a different font from others.

Don’t Experiment With Complex Resume Formats
The explanation for not using complex resume formats is similar to the font argument. The risk elements are the same. Your aim is to make sure the resume can be easily read. If you introduce any unusual or atypical format, it will be difficult to process the information you have provided. You may argue about the creative factor, but there is a good chance that many will find the attempt jarring. So why take a risk?

Don’t Use Polarizing Colors
When utilized wisely, colors can add clarity to your resume and help you emphasize on specifics. However, some candidates get carried away and go overboard with the color schemes. Too many colors can damage the first impression. Experts say blue and gray are the safest colors to use, and they look good on the computer screen too. A green and red color combo is also a popular choice. Candidates generally avoid using yellow, orange, and other similar ‘flashy colors’ on their resumes because they don’t show up well on the screen.

Don’t Address Yourself In First Person
A resume doesn’t have a subject. The general agreement is that you should not address yourself in the first person. The resume is no place for an I, me, mine type of approach in a resume. The verb or action you choose to describe your specialty must not have any of the above.

Don’t Fake Employment Data
The dates of employment on your resume must strictly match those in the employment or payroll records. They must also match the data posted in your LinkedIn profile and the answers you provided in the interview. If there is any date of data variation related to past employment records, it will likely be viewed as misrepresentation or carelessness. If you cannot remember months, use years only. Months can be clarified later on in the hiring process. Your resume is targeted to get you into the interview.

Don’t Include Graduation Dates
If you are a new job seeker, it is reasonable to display your graduation date on your resume. If you are already into your career for around five years or more, your work experience must take prominence over your graduation. Don’t include your graduation date if you have built up a career already. Your work experience is what counts in such cases.

Don’t Include Volunteer Work That’s Not Relevant
It’s a good move to add volunteer work in your resume, however it is best that they reflect aspects most relevant to your current job target. Notably, include work that is exceptional and undertaken recently. For instance, any pre-college volunteer work need not be mentioned in the resume if you have never done a similar job and have been working for over a decade.

Don’t Add Outdated Credentials
Adding credentials and certifications to the resume can boost its value, but only if they are current. Adding credentials that are time-lapsed might probably be viewed as negative.

Don’t List Every Online Class You Have Taken
You might be keen to make your resume lengthy and comprehensive but adding every online class you have taken is not the best way of achieving your goal. It might reflect your love for remaining updated and your passion for learning, but some hiring managers might not like the idea. Make sure you limit the list of online courses to ones that are relevant to your job and can add more value to your candidature.

Don’t Mention Irrelevant Jobs
Many applicants are confused about the number of jobs they should show in a resume. There is no standard number to this. Adding jobs relevant to your current application is a better way of showcasing your achievements. Hiring managers like to check your past. It tells them about your experience and whether you can be trusted to continue in the organization for a longer time.

Providing your hiring managers with too much information can create potential red flags. It may also make the resume appear complicated. If you have changed jobs more frequently than an average employee, eliminating some of them is a good idea, especially the irrelevant ones. If you want to be honest, these jobs can be summarized in a different section.

Don’t Allow Errors
Every employer loves a resume that provides a detailed and accurate picture. Your resume is viewed as a measure of your competency, accuracy, and attention to detail. If you provide information accurately and avoid errors, you can gain an early advantage. Review your resume for spelling errors, grammatical errors, and typos. Ask a third person to read and review it to make it more foolproof.

Don’t Send the Wrong Document Format
If you apply online, nearly all job portals insist on txt (ATS-friendly) or PDF submission of a resume. A PDF document retains the format regardless of the environment in which it opens. If you open a Google Doc in a word app, the layout doesn’t remain the same, and even the font changes at times. Some unique features, such as bullet points, disappear entirely or appear differently. That’s why always ensure the resume is presented in a PDF format, but if the company specifies a specific submission format, you must send the document in that format.

Don’t Use Subjective Language
With more people vying for different positions at the same time, your application will likely compete with thousands of submissions. To improve your chances of getting selected, avoid mistakes like using subjective language in the resume. Hiring managers are looking for information that can help them choose you over others. Help them by providing information that can clearly identify the roles and responsibilities you can handle in your new job, as well as demonstrating your past achievements to show how you can potentially add value to a new organization.

Don’t Embellish or Present Wrong Information Deliberately
The stakes of hiring are extremely high in a job market that’s uncertain and has limited funds for hiring and training. Hiring professionals are stretched to the extreme and must work hard by putting in long hours. They are adept at screening resumes and can quickly detect the good ones from the bad.
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While facing such qualified hiring managers, it is not at all advisable to indulge in lying or embellishing your resume with incorrect information. Highly trained professionals generally have a firm grip on the core capabilities required for a job opening. They are also typically adept at detecting falsification or input that doesn’t seem to add up. Any attempt to add wrong information deliberately to mislead the hiring managers is futile. They will see through the effort quickly, and the loss will be yours entirely.

Conclusion
Resume writing is a tricky and complex task but it will be less cumbersome for those who have researched the market and know what present-day hiring managers and recruiters are looking for. Still, it involves some complicated balancing of highlighting the most crucial parts of the resume, establishing your specialties, and customizing the writing to match the demands of the role you are required to perform in the new organization.

Don’t make the resume writing process even more complicated by allowing common mistakes to creep in. Skilled hiring managers with years of experience will use this mistake to eject you out of the race quickly. By avoiding the top mistakes generally committed in writing resumes, you can quickly increase your chances of getting to the next step in the interview ladder.

The later part of 2019 and the whole of 2020 were completely disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the labor markets taking the brunt of the blow. Millions lost their jobs or were furloughed. An equal number of workers had to regulate their working hours and settings as offices were forced to close, and work from home became the norm for most industries.

​Many other professionals deemed essential continued to work in medical facilities, essential services such as groceries, warehouses, and janitorial pulled on but under stringent new protocols to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Now, with the ferocity of the virus easing across the globe, people are facing new challenges. While the pandemic accelerated existing trends in remote work, ecommerce, and automation, more workers and professionals find the need to switch occupations. They are struggling to keep pace with the changing career demands and choices. If you have recently lost your job due to the pandemic or contemplating a career change for other reasons, you must move carefully.

It is evident that you will be thinking about a career that guarantees job security and a successful future. While uncertainty still looms large, what is clear is that in the post-coronavirus world, you must make your choices carefully so that you don’t have to go job-hopping again and again.

The following careers can be the best option to set you on a secure path beyond the pandemic. At the same time, it is important to note that these predictions may keep changing as the situation continues to unfold and achieve some level of stability.

Remote Work Facilitator

Managing teams became a major headache for many corporate executives during the pandemic as they had to work from home almost overnight. This was an alien practice but is now commonly accepted.
Remote work issues, however, keep popping up. Some companies have created the post of remote work facilitators or work from home management experts. They are tasked with keeping remote workers and in-office workers on the same page. The aim is to prevent the creation of a two-tier class system.
As a remote work facilitator, you will be required to provide all your work-from-home colleagues with the tools and technology, software systems, furniture, and fixtures they need to ensure a smooth and hassle-free experience.

Counselor For Dedicated Fitness

It is not uncommon for many of us to discover layer upon layer of extra muscles and fat packed around our tummy. You can blame it on the pandemic, and no one will dispute your words. However, you just can’t sit there are wish that those extra pounds will vanish. A preventive and predictive approach is needed. And that’s why you need a counselor.

A counselor for dedicated fitness may not seem like an attractive job title. But there is a massive demand for such professionals. As a counselor, your job is to keep the staff motivated and ensure they indulge in regular exercise at home and maybe even for a few minutes in the office. The thought of a fitness professional urging a worker to finish one more lap or do a couple of more pushups may seem out of place. But in many organizations, it is happening.

There is also a huge demand for mental health professionals. There are many cases of anxiety, stress, depression, work-specific burnout, and loneliness affecting workers post-COVID19. A career as a mental health counselor can be a great option, especially if you are a fitness freak yourself.
We might have left the pandemic behind. However, there will be some scars that must be healed through compassion and counseling.

Creative Workplace Designer

Office infrastructure and architecture have been undergoing dramatic changes post the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizations are focused on redesigning their real estate as well as interiors with the employees’ well-being in mind. Human-centered designs are making their presence felt heavily in most workplaces.

This has led to a vast demand for designing professionals, especially those specializing in office design.
The new post-pandemic office has to incorporate several things to ensure compliance with regulations and mandates. The office must be designed for distancing rules, the number of people working together at one time, and so on.

The demand for a creative workplace designer is expected to increase in the coming years as offices move to make their workplace ready to deal with such constraints in the future.

Advanced Tech Advisor

The pandemic saw most people embrace technology with absolute ease. As they were confined to their homes and physical meetings coming to a grinding halt, they took to the virtual world with a vengeance.
Digital and tech-based activities surged over the outbreak. Consumers felt at home as they explored the delightful world of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR).

The uptick in mobile usage, and everyone being online more, has resulted in consumers using Extended Reality across verticals. Consuming digital entertainment and participating in social VR and AR has become second nature even to the less tech-savvy during the pandemic.

With the demand for tech-driven entertainment soaring, you can explore the opportunity to become a tech consultant or advisor for individuals and organizations. Workplace collaborations are also happening at a brisk pace. So, there are opportunities galore if you are willing to take the plunge.

Human-Machine Coordination Professional

Pandemic or no pandemic, there is no stopping the rising presence of robots in the workplace. However, the transition from human collaboration to the human-machine association may be hard to achieve for some organizations. Professionals trained in advanced technology such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning will be in demand in organizations that want to move with the times and be seen as tech-friendly.
Openings for unique roles such as robot technicians are growing at a rapid pace.

Supply Chain Management Expert

The pandemic saw consumers suffering from an extreme shortage of essentials across the world. Even in developed countries, the sudden and extended lockdown saw people scramming for food when they got the opportunity.

During the pandemic, we have witnessed how deeply the supply chain and logistic industry affect our daily lives from close quarters. Post-pandemic, the supply chain management industry is experiencing major growth. If you have some experience in supply chain management at any level, this is the best time to get involved.

You can work as a procurement analyst, logistics consultant, project manager, distribution expert, etc.
If you are passionate about dealing with logistics and love challenges, you can prepare for a career in the supply chain management industry. Post-COVID, the industry has learned some important lessons and aims to reduce the roadblocks and hurdles and achieve greater efficiency.

Social Welfare Professional

The pandemic has left many people distressed physically, financially, and emotionally. They have overcome the most challenging part of beating the pandemic and surviving the toughest times. Now they need support in the form of counseling and advice for picking up their lives and starting afresh.
It is not going to be easy. While family, friends, colleagues, employers, and others can definitely play a role in their rehabilitation, they can do better with professional help. As a social welfare professional, you can help them recover faster from their trauma and get their life back on track through one-to-one counseling.

Conclusion

The pandemic has wrought havoc on a vast majority of people across the globe. Now that we have put those times behind us, the focus should be on getting life back on track as quickly and smoothly as possible. The roles mentioned above are among those most likely to help you stage an early recovery. There will be many other roles that will emerge in the changing world post-pandemic. Most of them will pertain to the health, wellness, and safety sectors. It is practical to expect a tremendous increase in the demand for professionals in the construction, medicine, and health sectors. With homes being upgraded to accommodate work-from-home norms, the demand for professionals in the construction and maintenance industry will also increase in the future.