Résumé red flags to avoid

A recruiter or hiring manager may look at your résumé for only a few seconds before they make a decision about your application.

Human resources staff are trained to look quickly for disqualifying factors. With just seconds to impress, you need to ensure your résumé doesn’t contain mistakes that may harm your chances of selection.

Here are four glaring red flags that tend to vex recruiters and may prompt them to weed out candidates at a glance.

When an interviewer asks about your weaknesses ...

For some graduates, it's the toughest question in a job interview:

Tell me, what is your biggest weakness?

How should you answer? And what do potential employers really want to hear?

There was a time when saying you were a perfectionist or a workaholic were the only acceptable answers to the question about professional weaknesses. However, unless you really are a perfectionist or a workaholic (and have supporting evidence), those answers are now considered insincere.

We asked employers in the tax profession to explain what they really want to learn when they ask this question.

You have just 7 seconds to make your CV shine

by Simon Cauchois *

Your potential new boss spends an average of seven seconds looking over each CV before deciding who to interview, according to studies. That means you need to make an incredible first impression to stand any chance of making it through to the next stage.

There are several simple but effective ways for your CV to catch the recruiter's eye.

Put your best assets at the top. Start your CV with a summary of your top skills and accomplishments. This will grab the boss's attention and make the right impression. Many CVs start with data such as qualifications and work experience, so give yours the personal touch. Tell them about your strong skills, such as being great with people, your enthusiasm for your work and your unique selling points such as being a first-class website designer or imaginative sales assistant with an eye for window dressing.

How to write a cover letter for your job application

When you apply for a job in tax, and especially for your first job in tax, you need to ensure your application stands out.

Your resume, of course, should clearly highlight your skills, qualifications and achievements to date. However, a hiring manager may not even see your resume if your cover letter doesn’t first spark his or her interest.

Taking control of interview nerves

When you’re in your final year of study, you’re likely to begin lining up job interviews.

At this stage, you may be nervous. But don’t let those annoying butterflies stop you from showing interviewers that you’re the right candidate for the job. Be prepared, stay focused and tackle those interviews with confidence.

Here are some tips that may help.

A resume to help you secure your first job in tax

A sparkling resume can be a one-way ticket to your dream job. In a competitive profession like tax, hiring managers use resumes to separate promising candidates from the rest.

That’s why you need a resume that shines the best light on your skills, qualifications and achievements.

Here are five useful tips for writing a winning resume.

Landing that graduate position

So you’re hunting for that elusive graduate position, wondering what employers in the tax industry want and how can you impress them. Here are three pieces of advice, plus some career words of wisdom straight from the horse’s mouth.

1. Having a good personality matters

If you’ve managed to graduate with your degree firmly in hand, you’re probably more than up to the technical side of the job. What employers will be keen to establish is whether you’ll be a good cultural fit. Try to establish a good rapport with them and let your personality shine through.

2. Don’t place too much emphasis on your tax education

Trust us, your employer understands you only completed one or two tax courses and have largely forgotten what you learnt. There’s no need to talk up your skill set given they’ll be enrolling you in taxation education if they decide to hire you.

3. Exaggeration is acceptable – lying isn’t

Interviewers expect you to talk yourself up – it demonstrates you’re keen to get the position – but they won’t appreciate being seriously misled. Make sure you don’t cross the line by pretending to have a Master of Taxation when you actually don’t.

Here’s what two respected tax professionals look for in their job applicants.

Daleen Van der Merwe, HR manager at DKM

“When employing graduates, we pay more attention to whether their attitudes and personality are such that they will fit into our existing team, rather than focusing just on their academic record. They need to be the type of person who is prepared to ask questions and be ready to learn. They also need to be comfortable with starting at the bottom and have realistic expectations.
“We’ve found that those who’ve done extra study, such as a Master of Taxation, straight after their undergraduate degree are overqualified and inexperienced. We prefer that people come to us and then do the CTA1 program while working here.”

Martin Booth, partner at Moore Stephens

“I used to focus heavily on the academic side, but then found that I also had to give thought to cultural fit – is the person going to have the ability to get along with other staff? Are you going to be confident putting them in front of clients? That said, you still need to have a fairly good CV behind you.
“If someone took the initiative and did the CTA1 at their own expense before applying for a job here, that would certainly be to their advantage. The issue many employers have with Gen Y is not so much a lack of skills as an attitude of entitlement. So someone who is going to invest their own time in broadening their skill set, either before or after being employed here, would always be looked favourably upon.”

Give yourself the edge with free Student Membership

If you are a tertiary education student, The Tax Institute can help you progress in your career journey.

Find out about Student Membership.