Ever wondered what your resume says about you?  Can a hiring manager tell what kind of employee you might be by simply reading your resume?  Probably not.  However, the real question is:  What perception could a hiring manager make of you based on the presentation and content of your resume?

This is very important.  I have filled the shoes of a hiring manager and remember, very distinctly, the types of resumes that were eye-catchers for both positive and negative reasons.  While you may think that the history included in your resume is the most important factor in capturing the attention of hiring managers, know that every aspect of your resume from your cover letter included, to the font, to the overall structure, can impact how a hiring manager might view you, even though you’ve never met face-to-face.   Here are some negative perceptions that a hiring manager might make of a candidate from reviewing a resume:

You talk too much:  Resumes with cover letters that are really autobiographies can be a turn-off.  Including your whole life story in your cover letter makes hiring managers think that either you are not considerate of their time or you talk way too much. Keep your cover letter short and to the point.  A cover letter should be a highlight of your skills and experiences relevant to the job for which you are applying.  The point of the cover letter is to give hiring managers a reason to want to review your resume.  Providing too much information can be overwhelming to a manager with 200 other resumes to review.  If your cover letter is too long, chances are it, along with your resume, will be placed in the “not interested – shred” pile.

You are lazy or incompetent (or not detail oriented):  If your resume is skimpy and looks like you did not take thought or care into preparing it, hiring managers might view you as lazy or incompetent.  Resumes with unreasonably short descriptions for job duties, like “filing”, tell hiring managers nothing about your skillset or experience.  Also, if you exclude important information from your job history, like dates in a certain position, this might suggest that you were either too lazy to complete this section or you did not take the initiative to seek advice on preparing your resume.  Therefore, be sure to include clear and concise details of your work experience and review your resume thoroughly to ensure that important data is not missing.  Finally for God sakes, please use spell check!  Skimpy resumes with spelling and grammatical errors may lead hiring managers to think that you are incompetent.  Thus, your resume will end up in the trash (forget the shred pile!).

You are not a loyal employee or you are not goal-oriented:  While these are not quick fixes to your resume, these are factors to consider in career planning and job hunting.  If your work history includes multiple jobs within short spans of time, hiring managers might consider you a job-hopper.  Also, if your work history is all over the place with a variety of unrelated job titles and work experience, hiring managers might be led to believe that you would take any position that comes your way and you are not goal-oriented.  Therefore before you enter the job market, it is very important that you plan out your career and brand yourself for the position you desire.  True, sometimes you may be placed in situations that are out of your control (layoffs, relocating, etc.).  However, it’s very important that your job choices are very well calculated – especially if you are hoping to advance in your career.  When hiring managers see a very inconsistent work history, they began to question if you are the right fit for their job.  Once again, you stand the chance of having your resume trashed.

While these are negative perceptions that hiring managers can make of you based on your resume, there are many positive perceptions that can be made also.  If you put time and effort into constructing your resume and carefully plan out your career, managers can see you as creative, computer literate, having great communication skills, and goal-oriented – to name a few.  How you wish to have hiring managers see you when they view your resume is all up to you.  Taking time and effort in constructing your resume can give you a greater chance of landing your dream job.