Top 4 Resume Mistakes Causing Job Application Rejections

Some of us or some of you knew they are lucky enough to get employed at an ideal company right after college, the reasons behind being lucky will vary from case to case, but be sure that it requires more than being lucky .

However for these lucky few will move up the corporate ladder with a combination of hard work, positive work environment, progressive learning, and time. But for the rest of us, we may find ourselves stuck in a first or second job, and we still have to establish the right career footing in our late twenties. It can be a career dead end unless you change jobs now.

So what to do, we start to look for a better job with better benefits, salaries, ………etc thus every time you find a job opportunity you apply for it , and here it what happened to most of us :-

The job seemed perfect for you. You met all the qualifications, it was exactly in the field you specialize in, you might go further and the interview went well. You had rapport with your interviewer, they seemed to like you, and at the end of the meeting, they promised they’d be in touch soon.

And then … keep waiting for the result or contact back, but it seemed to be a rejection. Or worse, total silence. What happened? Why did an opportunity that looked so promising fizzle out?

The above scenario more or less happens to you many times and in several occasions, the problem is No matter how qualified you think you are for a job and how well the interview goes, you should never count on getting an offer. Until you have a written offer in hand, you should never let yourself think it’s guaranteed you will get the job.

When you face those situation you start over and over again and keep applying for other different jobs, trying to avoid the mistakes and errors you have either in the CV structures, or the way you answer the questions during the interview.

No matter what you do, let us think out of the box and examine few other factors affect the decision that your resume has been rejected

1- Your age

In ideal world, celebrating another birthday doesn’t mean you’re stuck in a line of work you chose decades earlier. Age and experience can be assets in a new field.

If a recruiter asked, “How old are you?” If you are like the majority of age 45+ job seekers, I’ll wager you answered with a confident “yes.” Surprisingly, it is not illegal to ask a candidate their age. May be it is not a good idea perhaps, but not illegal. While it may fly in the face of what you know about the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the question itself is legal. What would be illegal is to use your age as a factor in any hiring or employment decisions. Seems like too fine a point? Well, like so much of antidiscrimination law, there are very lines between illegal behavior and illegal behavior that can be proven.

Didn’t you face similar situation before??!! , didn’t you feel your age was an obstacle in getting the job??!!

In addition, to being considered “old,” experienced candidates are sometimes considered more of an expense (higher salary, pension, benefits costs, etc.) than a younger applicant would be.

If you are middle-aged, or even younger, keep in mind that you are not alone:

• Workers over 45 are unemployed longer than younger workers.

• By 2018, the number of employees over 55 will reach 39 million, compared to 27 million in 2008.

• More older workers are considering postponing retirement because of the down economy.

•Research has found no relationship between age and job performance.

Most of the companies nowadays emphasize on age range when hiring new employees. Booo hooo for those who are a bit well let’s saying… ahmmm… over age. If you are in your 40s to 50s will you stop looking for a job? Will you just stay home and knit? Will you just be sitting in your rocking chair and wait for the time you will be called in heaven? Ahhhmmm… don’t you think you are still desirable and very much able? Can’t you do what others can do anymore? I am sure you still CAN. I am sure you are still upbeat and hip.

So, what are you waiting for, search for the job now and be productive. Age is just a number… Don’t stop from aspiring employment or for a career change.

2- Your Race

Some statistics say that worldwide overall unemployment is 9.1 percent; this % is varied but it gives an average in USA in Europe. Going deep for the statistics it says: For white adults, its 8 percent, and for white teens, 23 percent. Black adult unemployment stands at 17 percent, and for black teens, it’s 40 percent, more than 50 percent in some countries.

The analysis tells us in somehow about some races has more unemployment than the others because of race and colors, it tells us as well that the characteristics of the unfortunate people who are liable to be at the end of the queue for employment. Improving their characteristics may improve their place in the queue, but it will not necessarily reduce unemployment.

The above says that race discrimination involves treating someone (an applicant or employee) unfavorably because he/she is of a certain race or because of personal characteristics associated with race (such as hair texture, skin color, or certain facial features). Color discrimination involves treating someone unfavorably because of skin color complexion.

Accordingly the law forbids discrimination when it comes to any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoff, training, fringe benefits, and any other term or condition of employment.

In ideal world, an employment policy or practice that applies to everyone, regardless of race or color, can be illegal if it has a negative impact on the employment of people of a particular race or color and is not job-related and necessary to the operation of the business. For example, a “no-beard” employment policy that applies to all workers without regard to race may still be unlawful if it is not job-related and has a negative impact on the employment of African-American men (who have a predisposition to a skin condition that causes severe shaving bumps) or to some religious where the religion rules required the men to keep their beard ………..etc .

3- Your Gender

Over the past quarter century and due to many factors of education, health …..etc, women have joined the labor market in increasing numbers, partially closing the gender participation gap . Between 1980 and 2009, the global rate of female labor force participation rose from 50.2 percent to 51.8 percent, while the male rate fell from 82.0 percent to 77.7 percent. Consequently, gender differentials in labor force participation rates declined from 32 percentage points in 1980 to 26 percentage points in 2009.

So it doesn’t matter who took over the job, but when you feel that they preferred none qualified one because of his/here gender, here comes the problem.

When gender is a factor in other decisions about employment opportunities or benefits, and when the practice of letting a person’s gender becomes a factor when deciding who receives a job or a promotion, so this is called gender discrimination for example, not hiring or promoting a worker because of his or her gender is considered gender discrimination.

While most discrimination claim that a woman (or women) was discriminated against in favor of a man (or men), there have also been cases where males have claimed that they have been discriminated against on the basis of gender. These cases are usually referred to as “reverse discrimination.”

4- Your religious

In ideal world, People should be hired or not hired because of their skills and merit, not because of their faith. And people should not be forced to choose between their faiths and their jobs.

In recent post by Gail Sullivan published in Washington post she was wondering if Putting religion on your résumé hurts your job chances , the answer was yes according to a study about Religious Affiliation and Hiring Discrimination in the American South, but it can be as a base for any other part of the world.

According to the study? Resumes that mentioned any of the seven religious affiliations on average “received 29 percent fewer follow up emails and 33 percent fewer follow up phone calls than the control group.” In general, this “antireligious bias” was not specific to any religion. Certain groups did fare worse than others, though. Muslims, for instance, received 38 percent fewer follow up emails and 54 percent fewer follow up phone calls than the control group.

Although this study concentrated on the American South, it was a replication of an earlier study conducted by the same researchers looking at religious discrimination of job applicants in New England. In that study, applicants with religious affiliations on their resumes received 24 percent fewer phone calls than the control group. Again, Muslim applicants were discriminated against at the highest rate.

It is illegal for employers to discriminate based on an individual’s religious beliefs. Businesses are required to reasonably accommodate an employee’s religious beliefs, as long as doing so doesn’t have excessive negative consequences.

Conclusion

Employment discrimination happens when a job seeker or an employee is treated unfavorably because of his or her race, skin color, national origin, gender, disability, religion, or age.

It is illegal to discriminate in any facet of employment, including in hiring. However, that doesn’t stop discrimination from happening.