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Make sure your resume is fresh and modern. You don’t want to look like a proverbial dinosaur to prospective employers and recruiters. Your resume is a representation of you to a recruiter or prospective employer, so don’t make a first impression that looks old-fashioned and outdated.

Learn the 9 of the biggest red flags that will instantly make your resume appear antiquated:

1. The One Page Rule

Don’t spend countless hours trying to squeeze a decade or two of valuable experience onto a single sheet of paper. The worst thing you can do is try to make the font smaller or eliminate space between lines. If you do, your resume is too hard to read.

The best way to gain extra space is to decrease the margins. Use 1/2 an inch instead of an inch. The good news is that the one-page resume no longer rules, as today’s hiring manager is more likely to be scrolling down on a screen than flipping to the next page.

In fact, for experienced professionals a two-page resume is the most common format. There are obvious exceptions, such as recent graduates and entry-level applicants who can easily fit all of their experience on one page without sacrifice. For seasoned pros, however, even three- and four-page resumes are not uncommon and are acceptable today.

Printing double sided will get you two pages for the price of one, and can impress companies who are environmental oriented.

2. Using Ancient Fonts

A “font” is the style and shape of the words on your resume. The right fonts are modern and easy to read. The wrong fonts are ancient and difficult to read. The right fonts are Arial and Helvetica. The wrong fonts are Times New Roman and anything else too fancy.

If you have your resume in Times New Roman font, like many of us do, change it to Arial. You’ll be amazed at how much cleaner, modern and more professional it looks.

3. Writing in Paragraphs instead of Bullet Points

Your resume is an outline, not a novel. Use bullet points to highlight your experience and education, with short sentences or phrases.

Don’t write in long block paragraphs that tell a story. It makes your resume much harder for a human to “scan” quickly, and is likely to cause your resume to be thrown into the rejected pile.

4. Using a Street Address

Including a City and State is fine, but there is no reason at all to include your actual Street Address. The employer isn’t going to be notifying you of an interview by snail mail.

Skipping the street address is good for you for two reasons. It helps prevent both identity theft and junk mail. Since many job ads are from company’s that choose not to reveal their names, you never know who you’re sending your resume to, so skip the street address and keep yourself protected.

5. Not Including an Email Address

Yes, you may have emailed you’re resume to the recruiter, but its still important to have your email address on your resume, as well as your phone number.

Having an email is not just a matter of convenience. It says “Yes, I am part of the modern world, please hire me.”

6. Using an Objective instead of a Summary

Objectives are out and Summaries are in. The reason is an Objective tells the employer what you want. A Summary tells the employer who you are and what you can do for them.

Your Summary should be about 2 or 3 sentences that state what job you are applying for, and a brief explanation of your career highlights. You should be able to read your summary section out loud in 30 seconds or less.

7. Ignoring Keywords

Resume’s are scanned by computers as often as they’re read by humans. The software is design to scan resumes for the keywords chosen by the employer. If you don’t have the right keywords, you’re resume never gets selected to be read by a real human.

There are two ways to manage keywords. The easy way is to simply include a keyword section (don’t call it that, call it “Core Competency”).

The harder but better way of using keywords is to place them throughout your resume in the descriptions of your work and school experience. Its more natural, and will score better with the actual human recruiter.

The secret to knowing the right keywords is that they’re usually in the job ad. If you see a list of skills required, a certain educational degree, or specific licenses or other qualifications, those are all keywords. Any unique words could be keywords, but things like “strong work ethic” are never keywords.

8. Stating Obvious Computer Skills

Don’t list common technology on your resume. We all know how to use Microsoft Word, Windows, Internet Explorer, Twitter and Facebook. We all know how to use an email program.

For upper-level applicants, it is already inferred that you possess the entry-level technical skills that were needed to successfully rise through the ranks. Listing them would unnecessarily lend your overall presentation a lower-level feel, which you would obviously want to avoid.

9. References Available Upon Request

Of course they are. References were more important before the internet became everybody’s reference. Google is always willing to give you a reference, for better or worse. It goes without saying that you are going to provide references if a prospective employer you want to hire you requests them.

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1. First Contact

Whether a hiring manager gets back to you over phone or by email to set up an interview, make sure to take a moment to thank them for their time and consideration.  You certainly aren’t owed an interview just because you threw your resume into the ring, so don’t put on an air of entitlement.  It’s important to remain humble – that is not to say meek – throughout the process, and showing your appreciation is crucial to paying respect for the interviewer, as well as the company on the whole.

2. During the Interview

Make your first impression a great one – the moment you walk into the interview and shake hands with a hiring manager, thank them once again for their time and consideration.  Make sure to exit with a bang too; when you get up to leave, express your gratitude.  If more than one person is interviewing you, shake hands with each person and say thanks to all individually, and address them each by name if you can.

3. After the Interview

Many people often forget this step, but it’s essential to send a thank you note to a hiring manager after an interview.  It shows that you are thinking about a job after you’ve gotten through the initial meeting, and also gives you a chance to remind the hiring manager who you are, why you want the job, and what you bring to the table.  It’s up to you to discern whether it’s more appropriate to say thanks via email or regular mail; just make sure you remember this important gesture that all hiring managers appreciate.

4. Upon Rejection

Even though your inclination may be to cut your losses and move on as quickly as you can when you are rejected from a job, take a few minutes to say thanks one final time.  Saying thank you after you are given a “no” conveys professionalism, and cues hiring managers into what you might be like to work with if a future opportunity rolls around.  Never forget that, while you may not be given the current position you are applying to, other jobs may open up that are better suited to you.  Keep yourself at the top of the hiring manager’s list by ending on a positive note.

Always remember the importance of saying thank you, and, equally as important, remind yourself of the things you are already grateful for in your life.  Even if you don’t have a job this holiday season, try to remember that things do change, and it’s the joy and support you currently have that will get you through these challenging times.

Happy Thanksgiving,

The Doostang Team