There are some very basic mistakes that can almost guarantee that your resume will get thrown in the bin. Watch out for the following:

Too long - employers are busy people…they don’t have time to read a 6 page resume full of useless filler material.

Too short - ideally your resume should be at least one full page and no more than two. Any shorter than this and you may come across as an under-achiever.

Spelling & punctuation errors - this is my (and everybody else’s) pet hate. The employer will think: “how does this person propose to carry out their responsibilities effectively if they can’t even provide an error-free resume?”.

Not highlighting achievements - the employer doesn’t care what your title was…they care about what you achieved. How much money did you save the employer?

One of the most important aspects of any resume is its references. Almost every employer will call or email your referees, and a glowing endorsement can mean the difference between getting the job and missing out. Here are some important points to remember:

First of all, and probably most obviously, get permission! - it’s just common courtesy.

Choose your referees wisely

Let’s face it, times are tough….REAL tough! Unemployment is at record highs, and people are competing for fewer jobs that only a couple of years ago were plentiful. I was talking to a family friend yesterday who studies part time, and is finding it difficult to get his foot in the door for new job opportunities. This prompted me to think about the core principles to keep in mind when preparing a resume.

First impressions are absolutely vital - don’t make spelling errors, don’t present your resume on dirty paper, choose a simple design that is appropriate for the industry.

KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) - employers are very busy people. They don’t have time to read through mountains of information.

Be a sales person - explain why the business will be better off for having you on the team. Explain why you are better than the next person, and why the business could not live without you. Don’t go over board though (see next point)…

Be truthful - never EVER lie in your resume. Not only will you be found out eventually, your reputation will be greatly damaged if you work in a small industry where everyone knows everyone.

Prepare the resume yourself - I’m sure that there will be a lot of people who disagree with me on this, but I will save my reasoning for another post.

These points seem pretty basic right? But you would be surprised how many people make such fundamental and stupid errors. The good news for you is that by observing the above, you are already one step ahead.

Blatant plug: Keeping the above in mind, IntaJob is a really easy to use tool that provides a step-by-step approach and effective, attractive designs. All you need to do is focus on the information to be inserted. The IntaJob resume builder includes the following sections:

• Contact Details
• Objective
• Profile
• Education
• Work History
• Skills
• References
• Achievements
• Interests & Activities

Of course you don’t need to use all of the sections above…so just include the information that is specific to your industry.

Well after countless late nights burning the midnight oil, we have finally launched the new version of our site! As you can obviously tell, we have changed our name to IntaJob to more closely reflect the theme of the site. We would like to thank all of our users for their patience and helpful feedback. Apart from the complete design overhaul, you might also notice a number of new features including:

• Dashboard
• Improved editing functionality
• Online Profile
• Job Listings

As always we welcome any feedback that you might have, be it positive or negative, and look forward to continuing to improve the best damn CV / Resume site online!