There are a lot of items you should not include on your resume if you want to land that dream job. If you are looking for a job, you should know that there are a few things that make a resume look outdated, unprofessional and even distracting to employers. You need to make sure that they only see the information that strengthens your candidacy, not anything that weakens it. Try not to concentrate only on what you should include on your resume and pay attention to what you shouldn’t put in that important document because this can mean the difference between landing an interview or no. Here are 7 important items you should not include on your resume if you want to be successful in your job search:
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1. An Objective
One of the most important items to leave off your resume is your objective. If you applied for the position, it’s already obvious that you want the job. Also, if you put an objective in your resume, you might give the impression that you only care about what you want while the hiring process is all about what the employer needs.
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Instead, focus on crafting a professional summary that highlights your skills, experience, and accomplishments. Tailoring this section to show how you can meet the company's needs can make a powerful impact. It's a chance to show how your past achievements will translate into future success in the role, all while keeping the spotlight on how you can contribute to the organizational goals. Remember, it’s about making the employer see you as an asset they can't afford to pass up.
2. Irrelevant Work Positions
If you want to land an interview, try not to include in your resume those irrelevant work positions or even those short-term jobs that you've had, since they might make your potential employer question your work performance. They might wonder if you were fired, if you didn’t get along with your work colleagues or even if you couldn’t take care of your work responsibilities.
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3. Any Personal Data beyond Your Contact Information
Do not include any personal information beyond your contact details, like your address, your e-mail or even your phone number. Leave out things like your date of birth, your religion, your political affiliation or your marital status. All that information is actually illegal for your employer to ask, so there’s really no need to include it.
4. Your Photo
You should not include you photo on your resume, unless you are applying for a job as a model or actor. Your appearance has actually nothing to do with your work performance or with your ability to do that job, so by adding a photo, you might appear unprofessional or even naïve.
5. Subjective Descriptions
If you want to land that dream job, then try to include only your experience and your accomplishments and avoid including any subjective traits like “creative innovator” or “great leadership skills.” Usually, smart hiring managers ignore the subjective things that the applicants wrote about themselves.
6. Your Hobbies
When you are looking for a job, just keep in mind that your resume is not your Facebook profile. Your hobbies are irrelevant to your job and most employers don’t really care how their employees are spending their free time, so try not to waste your potential employer’s time by including them in your resume.
7. Your Salary
Don’t put your salary in your resume! You’ll just seem unprofessional, naïve and even demanding. This aspect should be negotiated later during the interview, if you are offered the position. Don't hinder your chances of landing that job by adding this small little detail on your resume.
Also, if you are looking for a job, try not to include your grammar school or your high school, your physical characteristics, a less than professional e-mail account or anything that is false because your resume should be as accurate as possible. Do you know any other items that should not be put on a resume? Please share your thoughts with us in the comments section!
Sources:
money.usnews.com
businessinsider.com
salary.com
gotresumebuilder.com
finance.yahoo.com
jobsearch.about.com
Comments
RebeccWall: Actually, you should put most of these things.
Isabella: Yeah i'm with these ladies about hobbies/interests, i recently put that in my resume to give it some personality! I'm a full time student studying childcare and i need to sell my talents (i.e. hobbies come into it for me)!
Trina: Be careful when choosing your fonts. Be aware of tabs and margins and keep your resume to 1 page
Mitch: Well, actually it depends on how you perform during interview and skills examination. But a good CV still can help during introduction
AgentSS: Actually, employers want to know your interests. Not a whole paragraph but a sentence or two would be nice. They do want to know who you are.
Jimmie: Hell mitch Lacey can I see you privately please
Emmalee62: Well some job actually require your date of birth especially depending on what products they sell. You wouldn't be hired at a shop that sells alcohol like a co-op as their insurance doesn't cover 18 or unders to work there. Why would you waste a potential employers time organising an interview to find out you legally cannot work there? Also you should put on your schools to prove you went. As for the above it's a maximum of 2 pages anything else is excess. If you're a student then you should put an objective as you might need to be forward about that you're not going to be working at that place forever.
Shanlynn: Asking for a DOB in most states is illegal. It's discrimination. As a hiring manager I agree with all of these, unless your hobby can be beneficial to your position it shouldn't be included.
Cherry: Putting an objective/aim is actually a really good opening to a resume/CV. Hobbies and interest also allow the company an insight into what kind of person you are. Ideally it's should be one page long as that's mainly the amount of time the interviewer gets to read or will read.
001: I personally believe that there are great points to takeaway from this article. Subjective words can often times make the individual come off as though someone did their resume for them. I also believe that providing too many short jobs actually makes the individual seem as though they cannot stay in one place for a long period of time. I also feel as though unless you're over the age of 25, naming your high school is important but past that, you really should focus more on mentioning higher education. Personality wise, it's good to add a flare considering most resumes we receive are all the same. Seeing someone add a subtle hint of who they are is great, but too much can make them appear as egotistical. The biggest thing is to NEVER include your desired salary or wage on your resume unless it's for a specific job at a company you are interested in. Professional emails are extremely important! I don't know how many people my age (20s) don't understand that your high school email should be different on your resume. First and last name or first initials, anything simple that is relevant to you. Employers really do look at this! Objectives sometimes seem to me that unless it's at a specific location, that if a person is handing out to just get any job, they're just looking for any work - but many employers do look for long term employees. Therefore it could hinder chances, depending upon the circumstances!
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