The company I work at, Nexternal Ecommerce Platform, recently had a rare job opening. The resumes that started flooding in had a surprisingly high percentage of bad first impressions. Job hunting is a job in itself, and when a person doesn’t take the time to perfect an application, it shows.

Proofread

Seriously, this is common sense, right? And yet the number of spelling and grammatical errors is astounding. When you change a few words in a paragraph, read the entire paragraph over again and make sure it still makes sense. When you’re finished, have someone else give it a once-over. When you’ve been reading the same words over and over again, it’s easy to miss these kinds of mistakes.

Tailor to the Job Opening

An efficient way of applying to multiple jobs is the send the exact same resume and cover letter to all of them. This may be efficient, but it is not effective. Employers are looking for people with the skills most applicable to the position. Help them cut through the clutter by going into more detail about your relevant talents and maybe remove some of the items that won’t help you on the job in question. More is not always better.

Stand Out

Your resume is going to be a needle in a haystack of other resumes. It’s your job to make your needle glow in the dark. Own your resume. Here are a few tips on how you can make yours stand out:

• Use humor – If your application makes someone smile, they’re more likely to remember you.
  Example: My boss says he still remembers my resume, particularly the part that said, “Built Yahoo.com from the ground up. Just kidding – a sense of humor is important, right?”
• List accomplishments – Many people have the same skills you do, but what you have achieved is more unique.
  Example: “Redesigned company website” or “Reorganized the office inventory system.”
• Get personal – Add a section for personal interests at the bottom. Employers who don’t care can skip it, but those who are looking for a certain kind of person will be very interested in what motivates you. (In my opinion, these are the employers you want.)
• Use non-standard paper – You can try using linen paper or maybe something with a bit of color, but nothing obnoxious.