Former Amazon Recruiter Shares The Top Mistake You Might Be Making On Your Resume

When creating a resume, jobseekers often focus on highlighting their achievements and adding creative elements to make their application stand out. However, according to former Amazon recruiter Lindsay Mustain, who has reviewed countless resumes throughout her career, there's one common mistake that many applicants consistently make, leading to their rejection.

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Top mistake that you might be making on your CV

In an interview with CNBC Make It, Lindsay Mustain, a former Talent Acquisition Strategist and Employer Branding Guru at Amazon, highlighted the top mistake made by jobseekers in their resumes.

Mustain observed that many applicants tend to provide generic statements that lack specificity regarding their actual accomplishments on the job. She likened these generic statements to "Miss America answers" or responses one might hear in a pageant, emphasising their lack of depth and insight.

In her conversation with CNBC Make It, Lindsay Mustain advised jobseekers to quantify and list their accomplishments rather than relying on vague statements like "I had stakeholder meetings with people." She critiqued such statements as resembling "a glorified job description," indicating that they fail to convey the candidate's actual impact and contributions in their previous roles.

According to Mustain, this mistake is pervasive across all levels of job applicants, from junior roles to executive positions in the C-suite.

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An example of a common mistake

She even recalled an instance in which forgetting that critical component could've cost job seekers an offer of seven figures.

Speaking to CNBC Make It, Mustain said that while she working at Amazon, an applicant messaged her on LinkedIn, saying that he had been applying to jobs at the company and no one was calling back. The man was a former Top Gun commander, a former White House aide to two presidents and a Harvard alumnus.

"This might be the most qualified person I've ever heard," she said.

But the problem with his resume, according to Mustain was that he did not give insights into what he does. He didn't include his specific at-work accomplishments or the kinds of tasks he took on in previous jobs, she said. It wasn't clear that he had the experience Amazon needed for any role, Mustain added.

It was only after a phone call that Mustain got a better sense of who he was as a worker. She eventually got in touch with him and he landed that seven-figure offer.

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Rectify this mistake on your resume

She advised job candidates to write about the "result of the work you do" and be specific when giving examples.?

Mustain provided another example of how jobseekers can enhance their resumes by quantifying their achievements. She suggested that instead of simply stating they fixed tickets on a help desk, applicants could highlight their impact by saying, “I’ve solved 30 customers’ problems a day.”

To further quantify this achievement, they could calculate, “Thirty problems a day, 20 days a month, 12 months per year is 7,200 problems solved altogether.”Mustain emphasised that incorporating more metrics and analytics into resumes can make them more impressive to recruiters. With recruiters often sifting through hundreds of applications, numbers immediately catch their attention.

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