How NOT to Post Your Resume on Craigslist

Posted by David B. Wright

July 2, 2009

I was searching through the resumes posted on Craigslist today to find candidates for a sales position we have available. I found some pretty pathetic attempts from job seekers looking for jobs, so I thought I’d share in the hopes that you won’t make the same mistakes these people are making, just in the headlines alone!

Some of the top resume mistakes are covered in my free report and in my book.

Bad headline #1: “Seeking Work”
Similar bad headlines: “Looking for employment / career”, “Seeking immediate employment”, “seeking a job”, and any number of variations.
Key mistake made: Stating the obvious. Why else would someone post their resume online? Of course they are all seeking work.
My suggestion: Be specific about what type of work you are seeking and clearly state it in your headline. Most employers aren’t looking for someone who just wants a job, they are looking for people who want (and can do) the type of job they have available.

Bad headline #2: “Prof. seeks immediate employment”
Key mistake made: Ambiguous abbreviation. I thought “Prof.” meant “Professor”. The resume poster used it for “Professional.” Many, if not most, of the hiring managers she was trying to attract likely thought the same as I did and simply went on to the next headline that more clearly matched what they were looking for.
My suggestion: Don’t abbreviate when it doesn’t help. Just like with any headline, your goal is to catch the reader’s attention so that they will read what you have to say. A resume headline follows the same rules.

Bad headline #3: “Your next employee”
Key mistake made: This is yet another vague headline with almost nothing to attract an employer or a recruiter. While this person might get a point or two by being a little clever with her headline, those who do click to see her resume will more likely than not find that the job seeker doesn’t fit their needs.
My suggestion: “Your next client relations manager” or “Your next Customer Service Tech Support Representative” would still have that touch of being clever but would get MUCH more targeted interest. Recruiters looking for that type of skill set would be able to see from the headline that the resume would warrant a closer look for them. Recruiters looking for any other skill set could move on to the next one that does fit their needs.

Bad headline #4: “I.m looking for work”
Key mistake made: Technical foul: punctuation. This person either doesn’t know the difference between a period and an apostrophe, or isn’t detail-focused enough to care about the difference.
My suggestion: At the VERY LEAST, make sure that your spelling and grammar are correct in everything you use as part of your job search. Some people rationalize this by thinking “no one cares if I make a tiny mistake” but the reality is that employers DO notice, and with mistakes as simple as this, prospective employers will think that you are sloppy, mistake-prone, inattentive, and have low standards. None of those are a good thing.

Bad headline #5: “I NEED A JOB! I’ll literally do anything!”
Key mistake made: In addition to being vague as to the type of job wanted, this one absolutely REEKS of desperation - even worse than the would-be pickup artist wearing too much Drakkar Noir at last call on a Saturday night… one to be avoided at all costs.
My suggestion: Don’t come across as a desperate job seeker. While you may be desperate, it doesn’t help to look desperate. If you have multiple skills, it’s OK to post multiple variations of your resume, focusing on each skill set with a different ad and different headline. Of course you shouldn’t post the exact same thing twice, but similar posts with slightly different targets can increase your chances of getting that job you want.

Bad headline #6: “(school name) grad need job, any job…now!!”
Key mistake made: More desperation, more vagueness, and so on. Name-dropping the school can be good, particularly if it’s a well-known, reputable school, but the rest of the headline turns me off. Bad grammar doesn’t help either.
My suggestion: Something like “(school name) BBA - Marketing with Online Marketing focus seeks to grow your company’s market share” or “(School name) BBA - Marketing seeks market analysis opportunity to help you find new markets”

Bad headline #7: Looking for a job in (City 1), (City 2), (City 3)
Key mistake made: While this person knows where they want to work, they don’t seem to know what job they can do.
My suggestion: Be specific about what type of job you want. At least this person knows where they want to work, geographically speaking, but the headline basically says that location is more important than responsibility.

To your success,

David B. Wright
Author, Get A Job! Your Guide to Making Successful Career Moves
www.thegetajobbook.com

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