Top Five Items to Strike from Your Résumé
When writing a résumé, you are often tempted to include as much information as possible. After all, you want prospective employers to be able to focus on unique aspects of your job history, special skills, or literally anything that will allow them to pick you out of the lineup of faceless applicants competing for the same position. But sometimes what you don’t say can be a lot more compelling.
Consider for a moment what happens when you do a Google search. You don’t look at every website that pops up (since there may be quite a few, to put it mildly). You only look at the first three to five sites (if that). This is how most people in our modern world operate. A harried HR manager who has to comb through a hundred résumés does not want to see that you spent the summer between high school and college helping underprivileged kids learn to ride horses. They want to know what qualifies you (and makes you the best) for the position. So here are a few items that you’re better off removing from your first impression.
- Old or irrelevant jobs. You really shouldn’t list more than the last three jobs you held, since that’s probably all people care about anyway (unless, of course, your relevant experience dates back farther…in that case, include it). Nobody wants to read a novel of your job history, so keep it short and to the point.
- Gaps. This is sort of like negative space that you don’t want to leave empty. If you were laid off and couldn’t find work for seven months, simply write in “seeking employment” with the missing work dates. Or if you are a stay-at-home mom whose kids are now in school, fill in “homemaker” to cover the five-year hiatus. This way, hiring managers won’t be left wondering if you were simply sitting on the couch collecting unemployment or living it up as a trophy wife.
- Dates for schooling. If your interviewer asks for this information, you can certainly supply it, but most people only care if you have a degree, not when you got it. And if you offer up the information in your résumé, you may not get a callback due to age discrimination. So nip it in the bud by excluding your culmination date.
- Personal information (including a photo). Yes, you were probably taught to incorporate these items and most templates still list them as appropriate. However, landing a job has very little to do with the fact that you played piano for twelve years, you enjoy boating, you are a supportive member of your religious congregation, or you spend your weekends volunteering with the Young Republicans. This information not only clutters up your résumé, it can sometimes work against you. Ditto on a photo of yourself. This is not a beauty pageant. You want to be hired for your ability, not for your looks, so let them see you in the interview, after they’ve already decided they’re interested.
- Lies. You may think you are getting a foot in the door by listing experience, schooling, or credentials you don’t actually possess, but all you’re really doing is shooting that foot. Even if you somehow manage to trick the company into hiring you, the truth is bound to come out sooner or later, and then you may find yourself not only on the chopping block, but virtually un-hirable (you will not be able to add the experience to your résumé and believe it or not, word spreads in almost any industry). So stick to the truth and you’ll have a far better chance of getting a job (on your own merits) and keeping it.
Guest post by Leah Darvis of Debit Cards where you can find a prepaid GreenDot card.
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