Break Up With Your Bad Resume

Oct 20, 2023

Raise your hand if you’ve ever had a bad relationship. It could be with your first ex, your current in-laws, or even with the federal justice system. At Top Applicant, we believe that everyone deserves to be represented professionally throughout the hiring process, regardless of their past. That’s why we built our platform to give our users the most professional tools and guidance for their careers. Whether it’s your next big adventure or your first job in a long time, we’re excited to turn your bad resume into a great career-building tool. Let’s get started by understanding the major factors surrounding a bad resume.

What Constitutes a Bad Resume?

Some resume is better than none. When it comes to building a great resume, it’s important to keep in mind that anyone’s first anything won’t be great. Even if this isn’t your first resume, these issues are common among bad resumes our hiring experts see every day:

Little to No Work History

We’d like to reiterate that some work experience is better than none! Whether this is the first job you’re applying for, or you’re looking for your next big move, work history matters. Too little employment can be seen as inexperienced or hard to hire. But too many jobs close together can come across as hard to work with and unfocused.

Bad resumes come in all shapes and sizes, but on Top Applicant, we made your history easier than ever to share. If you have gaps in your work history, you can use our portfolio tool to easily show your work when talking about it is more effective than writing.

Unreliable or Very Few References

We hate to break it to you, but your business major fraternity brothers are not quality references. If you have slim pickings otherwise, you’re not alone. For the start or restart of any career journey, 3 to 5 references are typical. Unless the employer requests a specific number, the correct contact info and reference listing will usually fit nicely on one page. Remember to notify everyone you include and verify their contact information. A typical email for that could be as follows:

Subject: Your Name, would like to add you as a reference.

Body: Hello Reference First Name I’d like to add you as a reference to my updated resume! Please let me know if it is okay to add your information and include your desired contact info in your reply.

Signature: Thank you for your help.

Contact Info: Your Name

You don’t have to use that exact example, so feel free to add your own unique style! Your references are crucial to the success of your resume in any stage of your career. Whether you’re just starting or you’re starting over, Top Applicant is here to help build your future, regardless of your past.

A Record

“Can you explain this 5-year employment gap?” No matter how wide that gap is, it can be hard to explain a felony charge and time served behind bars. That’s exactly why Top Applicant built our platform to prioritize communication and give everyone a fair chance. Our features allow you to share your story, your skills, and your vision on one professional profile.

Sometimes it’s easier to talk about your record than it is to type it out. Our video hosting capabilities give you a streamlined platform for you to share your story on camera. One of the most important things to attain a felony-friendly job is a phone and internet access. So use your access to your full advantage!

Our Top 3 Resume Reminders

Sitting down to write a resume can sometimes feel like homework for adults—because it is! Lucky for you, Top Applicant has done half the homework for you. We don’t have all the answers, but we do keep 3 key things in mind as we design and continue to improve our platform. Keep these 3 things in mind as you sit down to update your resume with our tools:

Your Past Is Not Your Future

First things first, it’s time to ditch that anxiety about a rocky job history. Top Applicant’s hiring experts all started somewhere too! Instead of the idyllic influencers and pristine personal records you see on social media, our platform is here for the real people. We can’t speak for everyone, but our hiring experts love an underdog just as much as a valedictorian.

You Are Your Best Advocate

When it comes to your job search, it’s important to remember that you’re not just an applicant, you’re an advocate as well. If you can describe your friends in a positive light, why not advocate for yourself in the same way? When it comes to your resume, it’s important to keep your writing confident and concise to project a professional image. When it comes to the rest of our tools, keep that same energy by sharing your vision for yourself and what makes you a top applicant.

Mindset = Worth

Our final reminder is that your perception of yourself is always projected on your resume and your presence as an applicant. It may sound more like life advice, but our experts have seen so many resumes that read so unconfidently that we couldn’t help but move on to the next one. Your employer needs to know that you’re worth their time, so use our tools to overcome your past and confidently build your future with a positive resume.

Top Applicant Resumes

Now that you know why your resume matters, it’s time to discover our free resume builder. As you craft your resume, build your reference list, and share your story, you’ll notice a few common themes with our platform. With over half a century of hiring experience between the managers that power Top Applicant, these are the values we are built on:

No BS

Instead of shuffling through thousands of listings to find the right job for you, our platform makes your job search easy by listing the job type, level, and industry you’re looking for. Our matchmaking tool goes even deeper by letting employers know details on everything from salary to your desired commute. You’ll want to fill all of this out honestly to find the best jobs for you and continue to optimize your search.

Honesty First

You don’t have to be a felon to know that deception eventually catches up to us all. That’s why we made it easy to add your work and education history. Even if the year is a couple scrolls down, feel free to share the experience that makes you the right person for the job.

After your first few jobs, we recommend focusing on industry-specific work experience on your resume. If you’re changing careers or open to multiple career paths, you can create a separate resume to be optimized for a specific job. These capabilities make it easy to be forthcoming when it comes to your next career move.

Rated E for Everyone

Our free resume builder is optimized for every stage in a career. Just because you’re still in school doesn’t mean you have a bad resume! Let employers know if you’re still in school, and share your academic accomplishments with our portfolio tool in just a few clicks. For a polished reference list, we suggest copying and pasting the info from your reference request emails we mentioned above. We truly built Top Applicant for every stage of a successful career.

Built for Your Future

A bad resume does not mean you’re doomed to a bad career. Your future is in your hands, so you need the right tools to build it. Getting your resume in the right hands takes some practice and some patience. So we built our additional features to help you find strategies that work best for your career. Here are our suggestions to optimize your next job search with the right resume:

Track Your Progress

Along with a streamlined resume builder and job search optimization, we include a free resume tracker to see who reads your resume and when. This tracker helps applicants optimize their search by targeting specific job types, fields, and industries that respond well to their resume.

To take your career journey to a new level, feel free to make different versions of your resume and compare your results by delving into detailed analytics and reporting designed to fine-tune your job search.

Normalize the Norm

Above all else, we want our users to grow professionally and personally. We continuously improve Top Applicant to connect people from all walks of life with the jobs that make their careers. We didn’t spend thousands of hours on research and development to make everyone look the same. Instead, our platform gives you the space to be entirely, uniquely, and professionally seen and hired. Everyone has their own path, so whether you call it a bad romance or a bad resume, it’s time.