A resume is your passport to getting the job that you want that's specific to your qualifications. Therefore it is key that you get it right the first time. There are a lot of resume writing mistakes that are done constantly by people applying for jobs. Most of the time, the mistakes could have been easily avoided.

Most of common resume mistakes are easily detected by using common sense, and others are industry specific and require knowledge in how the hiring processes work. Let me enumerate the top ten most common resume mistakes written by people today.

Overused resume template
One of the top resume mistakes ever. People using generic word processing templates in creating their resumes and even using the generic greetings and salutations. It is not necessarily frowned upon to use these templates, but it really doesn't help your resume to stand out from the rest. If you must use these templates, then at least edit it. Include some content and formatting to make it unique and your own.

Prioritizing and arrangement
Some resumes bury important accomplishment and skills in favor of mainstream formatting. Applicants sometimes place their skills and accomplishments at the bottom of the page. If you are applying for a certain job that requires certain skills, then it is important that you let them know you have the qualifications.

Putting in Personal Information
The placing of personal information is a big mistake on resumes. Including your eye color, height, favorite food or hobbies is irrelevant and unnecessary. It will be trash and gibberish to hiring managers. Write down what matters like your achievements and not your favorite movie or that you're the president of your town's ping-pong club.

Length of resume
There are those people who choose to right down every details of their previous employment thinking that quantity of experience and skill would eventually win them the position. Let me tell you that hiring managers who receive a nine page resume generally only go over the first page only. On average, they only spend around 20 seconds in scanning resumes of potential applicants in their selection process. So it is imperative that you make your resume short and concise and prioritize important information first and place them on top.

Previous experience and employers
It is required that you put your previous position and employer on your resume, it would be a resume writing mistake if you don't, but hiring managers would prefer it if you could also include some important information about your previous company like their phone number, website, or just what they are about. This would save them time in researches what your previous company is. Another important thing is to write down your position first then the company name, instead of beginning with the date of employment, this will make your resume more effective in catching the hiring manager's attention.

Keywords
It is a big resume mistake if you do not include keywords and a few jargon on your resume. The keywords are important because a lot of companies, especially large corporations, incorporate the use of hiring software to sift through resume databases for specific keywords they are looking for. By placing important keywords for your specific industry is best to convince the companies programs to select your resume, convincing the hiring manager on the other hand is another story.

Electronic formatting and Attachments
When sending your resume through email or through attachments there are times when your formatting will not be seen as the same on the other end. This may result in hinder the person on the other end from reading your resume at all because of the mistakes on your resume. So it is important that you try to send your resume to a friend's computer first to make sure that your document looks the same on both ends.

Resume is not bulleted
This is pretty much self explanatory, most resumes contain lists of items such as achievements or tasks completed and these items are separated by commas or just spaces. This can be very difficult to read and doesn't really highlight the items you want to show. Always use bullets to showcase the lists you want the reader to notice.

Submitting to positions you're not qualified for
Wishful thinking sometime make us assume that we are capable of doing a certain job, commonly it is best practice to research on a job first before trying to apply for it. So apply for a job that you know you can do, and avoid submitting your resume just for the sake of submitting it, because frankly, you'll just be annoying the hiring personnel and wasting their time.

Proofread, proofread and repeat
I can't stretch this point enough. Always and always proofread your resume, and even let someone else read it for you. Make sure that you avoid grammatical errors on your resume. Run your resume through a spellchecking program on your computer. Minor errors in grammar and spelling can really look bad on your resume; this only tells the hiring manager that you are not focused and concise as a person. Make sure that your dates, numbers, email addresses and other information are accurate.

If you try and avoid these common mistakes on your resume and follow the advices that were given, then you are ready to write that killer resume that will land you that job.