It is easy to see the consequences of badly constructed resumes. It is unfortunate that many people do not seek help with resume writing until they have been repeatedly unsuccessful in their search for a position. At this stage, frustration takes hold. Most of these people have made one or more of the top five resume mistakes: lack of focus, no marketing strategy, no list of achievements, a lack of keywords and the wrong format.

The best resumes have a focus, allowing the reader to clearly see the objective of the candidate. It is well known that many employers will reject a resume if it does not have a strong focus. A resume that is too general indicates uncertainty with regards to a career goal. If you have more than one career in mind, create more resumes.

A lack of marketing strategy is the most common mistake. Most job seekers do not realize that the search for a job is really a sales campaign. Successful sales people use powerful marketing tools - so too should successful job seekers in their resumes.

To transform your career history into effective marketing requires an understanding of the reader's buying motives. You should therefore see every word on the page as an opportunity to tell the reader how you will be a benefit to them. When you have become successful at using marketing as a strategy, you will then be able to progress to correcting the third mistake, which is leaving out statements of achievements.

An estimated 90% of resumes are completely lacking in this area. It is these achievements that help the prospective employer to envisage you working for them. Your achievements will give the employer the incentive to contact you before the competition does. The most effective achievements are quantifiable - those that can be stated as dollars, percentages or raw numbers - and are credible because they are concrete and objective. When you spend the time to list your achievements you will gain more bargaining power when negotiating a salary.

It is also important to include keywords in your resume. Not only does it help you to focus on the specific position, it also assists the reader to understand your point of focus. The absence of keywords quite simply leaves the reader doubting your understanding of the job requirements.

The final mistake is to use an incorrect format. It is important to know what is the best format to use for your particular career objective. There are three basic formats: chronological, functional and hybrid.

The chronological is the easiest to construct and is the best known. This style allows the reader to pinpoint the "what" "where" and "when" of your achievements. It is the best to use if you intend to remain in the same industry and when you need to showcase your most recent experiences.

It has shortcomings, however, when used to showcase skills that are transferable. This is where the functional format is the better option, as it allows you to place transferable skills and relevant achievements at the start of the resume, creating a strong first impression. The functional format, too, has its shortcomings: it can be confusing and lead the reader to suspect that the candidate is hiding something.

It is possible, however, to combine the better aspects of both chronological and functional, therefore creating the hybrid. This is the best of the formats, but it is difficult to write as it requires strategic planning and clear product branding. Executives of all levels should opt for this format.

You will definitely achieve more success with your career objectives if you take care to exclude these five mistakes from your resume.

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