Hiring managers rarely have the time or resources to look at each résumé
closely, and they typically spend about six seconds on their initial
fit/no fit decision. If you want to pass that test, you need to have
some solid qualifications — and the perfect resume to highlight them.
Here are 34 things you should strike from your resume right now.
1. An objective
If you applied, it's already obvious you want the job.
If you're in a unique situation, such as changing industries completely, it may be useful to include a brief summary.
2. Irrelevant work experiences
Yes,
you might have been the "king of making milkshakes" at the restaurant
you worked for in high school. But unless you are planning on redeeming
that title, it is time to get rid of all that clutter.career expert and
founder of career-consulting firm Resume Strategists points out: Past
work experience that might not appear to be directly relevant to the job
at hand might show another dimension, depth, ability, or skill that
actually is relevant or applicable.
Only include this experience if it really showcases additional skills that can translate to the position you're applying for.
3. Personal details
Don't include your marital status, religious preference, or Social Security number.
This
might have been the standard in the past, but all this information
could lead to discrimination, which is illegal, so there's no need to
include it.
4. Your full mailing address
A full street address
is the first thing Amanda Augustine, a career-advice expert for
TopResume , looks for to immediately cut from a résumé.
"Nobody needs
to have that on their résumé anymore, and, to be quite honest, it's a
security concern," she tells Business Insider .
5. More than one phone number
Augustine
suggests including only one phone number on your résumé, and that
number should really be your cellphone, so that you can control who
answers your incoming phone calls, when, and what the voice mail sounds
like.
6. Your hobbies
In many cases, nobody cares. If it's not
relevant to the job you're applying for, it's a waste of space and a
waste of the company's time.
"Also, you don't want employers trying
to contact you in five different places, because then you have to keep
track of that," she says.
7. Blatant lies
A CareerBuilder
survey asked 2,000 hiring managers for memorable resume mistakes, and
blatant lies were a popular choice. One candidate claimed to be the
former CEO of the company to which he was applying, another claimed to
be a Nobel Prize winner, and one more claimed he attended a college that
didn't exist.
Rosemary Haefner, chief human-resources officer at
CareerBuilder, says these lies may be "misguided attempts to compensate
for lacking 10o% of the qualifications specified in the job posting."
But Haefner says candidates should concentrate on the skills they can offer, rather than the skills they can't offer.
"Hiring
managers are more forgiving than job seekers may think," Haefner
explains. "About 42% of employers surveyed said they would consider a
candidate who met only three out of five key qualifications for a
specific role."
8. Too much text
When you use a 0.5-inch
margin and eight-point font in an effort to get everything to fit on one
page, this is an "epic fail," says J.T. O'Donnell, a career and
workplace expert, founder of career-advice site Careerealism.com , and
author of "Careerealism: The Smart Approach to a Satisfying Career."
She recommends lots of white space and no more than a 0.8 margin.
Augustine agrees , warning particularly against dense blocks of text.
"Let's
be honest: You're looking this over quickly, you're glancing through
it, your eyes glaze over when you get to a big, long paragraph," she
says.
9. Too many bullets
In the same vein, you can also overload your résumé with too many bullet points, which Augustine calls "death by bullets."
"If
absolutely everything is bulleted, it has the same effect as big dense
blocks of text — your eyes just glaze over it," she says.
Augustine
explains that bullets are only to be used to draw attention to the most
important information. "If you bullet everything, everything is
important, which means really nothing stands out," she says.
10. Time off
If
you took time off to travel or raise a family, Gelbard doesn't
recommend including that information on your résumé. "In some countries,
it is acceptable to include this information, especially travel, but it
is not appropriate to include that in the body of a résumé in the US."
11. Details that give away your age
If
you don't want to be discriminated against for a position because of
your age, it's time to remove your graduation date, says Catherine
Jewell , author of " New Résumé, New Career. "
Another surprising way your résumé could give away your age: double spaces after a period.
12. References
If
your employers want to speak to your references, they'll ask you. Also,
it's better if you have a chance to tell your references ahead of time
that a future employer might be calling.
If you write "references
upon request" at the bottom of your résumé, you're merely wasting a
valuable line, career coach Eli Amdur says.
13. Inconsistent formatting
The format of your résumé is just as important as its content, Augustine says.
She
says the best format is the format that will make it easiest for the
hiring manager to scan your résumé and still be able to pick out your
key qualifications and career goals.
Once you pick a format, stick
with it. If you write the day, month, and year for one date, then use
that same format throughout the rest of the résumé.
14. Personal pronouns
Your
résumé shouldn't include the words "I," "me," "she," or "my," says Tina
Nicolai, executive career coach and founder of Resume Writers' Ink.
"Don't
write your résumé in the third or first person. It's understood that
everything on your résumé is about you and your experiences."
15. Present tense for a past job
Never
describe past work experience using the present tense. Only your
current job should be written in the present tense, Gelbard says.
16. A less-than-professional email address
If you still use an old email address, like BeerLover123@gmail.com or CuteChick4life@yahoo.com, it's time to pick a new one.
It only takes a minute or two, and it's free.
17. Any unnecessary, obvious words
Amdur says there is no reason to put the word "phone" in front of the actual number.
"It's pretty silly. They know it's your phone number." The same rule applies to email.
18. Your current business-contact info
Amdur writes at NorthJersey.com:
"This
is not only dangerous; it's stupid. Do you really want employers
calling you at work? How are you going to handle that? Oh, and by the
way, your current employer can monitor your emails and phone calls. So
if you're not in the mood to get fired, or potentially charged with
theft of services (really), then leave the business info off."
19. Headers, footers, tables, images, charts
These fancy embeddings will have hiring managers thinking, "Could you not?"
While
a well-formatted header and footer may look professional, and some cool
tables, images, or charts may boost your credibility, they also confuse
the applicant-tracking systems that companies use nowadays, Augustine
tells Business Insider .
The system will react by scrambling up your
résumé and spitting out a poorly formatted one that may no longer
include your header or charts. Even if you were an ideal candidate for
the position, now the hiring manager has no way to contact you for an
interview.
20. Your boss' name
Don't include your boss' name on
your résumé unless you're OK with your potential employer contacting him
or her. Even then, Gelbard says the only reason your boss' name should
be on your résumé is if the person is someone noteworthy, and if it
would be really impressive.
21. Company-specific jargon
"Companies
often have their own internal names for things like customized
software, technologies, and processes that are only known within that
organization and not by those who work outside of it," Gelbard says. "Be
sure to exclude terms on your résumé that are known only to one
specific organization."
22. Social-media URLs that are not related to the targeted position
Links
to your opinionated blogs, Pinterest page, or Instagram account have no
business taking up prime résumé real estate. "Candidates who tend to
think their personal social media sites are valuable are putting
themselves at risk of landing in the 'no' pile," Nicolai says.
"But
you should list relevant URLs, such as your LinkedIn page or any others
that are professional and directly related to the position you are
trying to acquire," she says.
23. More than 15 years of experience
When you start including jobs from before 2000, you start to lose the hiring manager's interest.
Your most relevant experience should be from the past 15 years, so hiring managers only need to see that, Augustine says.
On the same note, never include dates on education and certifications that are older than 15 years.
24. Salary information
"Some
people include past hourly rates for jobs they held in college,"
Nicolai says. This information is unnecessary and may send the wrong
message.
Amy Hoover, president of Talent Zoo , says you also
shouldn't address your desired salary in a résumé. "This document is
intended to showcase your professional experience and skills. Salary
comes later in the interview process."
25. Outdated fonts
"Don't
use Times New Roman and serif fonts, as they're outdated and
old-fashioned," Hoover says. "Use a standard, sans-serif font like
Arial."
Also, be aware of the font size, she says. Your goal should be to make it look nice and sleek — but also easy to read.
26. Fancy fonts
Curly-tailed
fonts are also a turn-off, according to O'Donnell. "People try to make
their résumé look classier with a fancy font, but studies show they are
harder to read and the recruiter absorbs less about you."
27. Annoying buzzwords
CareerBuilder
asked 2,201 US hiring managers: "What résumé terms are the biggest
turnoffs?" They cited words and phrases such as, "best of breed,"
"go-getter," "think outside the box," "synergy," and "people pleaser."
Terms
employers do like to see on résumés include: "achieved," "managed,"
"resolved," and "launched" — but only if they're used in moderation.
28. Reasons you left a company or position
Candidates often think, "If I explain why I left the position on my résumé, maybe my chances will improve."
"Wrong,"
Nicolai says. "Listing why you left is irrelevant on your résumé. It's
not the time or place to bring up transitions from one company to the
next."
Use your interview to address this.
29. Your GPA
Once you're out of school, your grades aren't so relevant.
If
you're a new college graduate and your GPA was a 3.8 or higher — it's
OK to leave it. But, if you're more than three years out of school, or
if your GPA was lower than a 3.8, ditch it.
30. A photo of yourself
This
may become the norm at some point in the future, but it's just weird —
and tacky and distracting — to include a photo with your résumé for now.
31. An explanation of why you want the job
That's what the cover letter and interviews are for!
Your
résumé is not the place to start explaining why you'd be a great fit or
why you want the job. Your skills and qualifications should be able to
do that for you — and if they don't, then your résumé is either in bad
shape, or this isn't the right job for you.
32. Opinions, not facts
Don't
try to sell yourself by using all sorts of subjective words to describe
yourself, O'Donnell says. "I'm an excellent communicator" or "highly
organized and motivated" are opinions of yourself and not necessarily
the truth. "Recruiters want facts only. They'll decide if you are those
things after they meet you," she says.
33. Generic explanations of accomplishments
Don't just say you accomplished X, Y, or Z — show it by quantifying the facts.
For instance, instead of, "Grew revenues" try, "X project resulted in an Y% increase in revenues."
34. Short-term employment
Avoid
including a job on your résumé if you only held the position for a
short period of time, Gelbard says. You should especially avoid
including jobs you were let go from or didn't like.
Source: Business Insider, Jacquelyn Smith and Rachel Gillett
Things You Should Remove From Your CV
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