The conditions are perfect. The employer has a need and they want to interview you. To put it in marketing terms they are "ready to buy", but one quick look at your resume and they set it aside. What happened? Here are the top 9 reasons your resume submissions are not converting to interviews.

• Your resume has no direction. You appear clueless as to what you want and why you want it. If they do not know what you are looking for, they will not try to figure it out. They will just shrug and set it aside. They are in effect saying, "Come back when you know what you want."

• They don't want to feel like bottom feeders. First impressions really do count, especially with resumes. If your resume looks cheap, shabby, generic or like it was thrown together as an afterthought, it will reflect on you. If the overall look of your resume doesn't immediately gain the respect of the reader, you are in trouble. They want to feel good, not feel desperate, about calling you in for an interview. Studies have shown that readers decide within the first 10-15 seconds whether they are going to investigate further or move on. That is how long it takes to run your resume through their mental filter and determine whether you are good enough for an interview. If they cannot get past the first impression, you lose. What they are in effect saying, "I am not sure we want to be seen with this person."

• You got noticed, but you got noticed the wrong way by placing style over substance. What they are in effect saying, "Nice paper, beautiful font, so what?"

• You confused the reader. Your resume lacks coherence, there is no logical flow (note: so-called functional resumes are notorious for this). They are saying in effect, . . . well, they don't say anything. They just scratch their head and set your resume aside.

• You made them feel like you are testing their IQ. I have written hundreds of resumes for people working in fields where brain power is esteemed -- attorneys, physicians, academics, etc. I occasionally would get insecure job seekers in these fields who wanted their resume to be full big words with a stilted style thinking these are a signs of intelligence. It has quite the opposite effect. By setting your resume aside they are in effect saying, "Who is this idiot trying to impress."

• You are too aggressive, too pushy. You come across like you are the chosen one who is going to come in and solve all their problems with a snap of the fingers. By setting your resume aside they are in effect doing what they do to telemarketers, they are hanging up on you.

• You are too needy, too eager. If you look like you are desperate and willing to take anything, red flags go up. They wonder what is wrong with you and you lose the interview.

• You are too wordy (and I am not talking about the length of your resume). If you take 200 words for something that could have been adequately explained in 100, you will lose them. You will become boring. Once they are bored, you are done.

• You generated some initial interest, but in the end, gave them no compelling reason to call you. You had a great opening line, but you left off benefits and accomplishments. This is what happens when your history is simply a laundry list of where you worked and when you worked there. What they are in effect saying, "We don't know enough about this person to call him or her in."

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