5 things to avoid putting on your resume

Image credit: Pixabay
Your resume is essentially your sales pitch to help sell yourself to potential employers. That being the case, you want to be very careful selecting the information to include on your resume. Typically, most employers scan a resume and decide within seconds whether or not the document is worth taking a full look.

Chances are a resume will end up in one of two piles, save or discard. Those who make it to the save pile get a second shot at impressing an employer because, if after deeper exploration the employer likes what they see, an invite to an interview could be the next step.

Getting past the initial scan and ending up in the "keep" pile can be a challenge, especially if there are more applicants than there are available jobs. To impress a potential employer it is important to know what should and shouldn't be included on a resume.

Things to avoid putting on your resume:

1. Old jobs

If you have an adequate history of job experience you do not need to reach into the cobwebs and extract jobs from long ago. Digging up jobs from decades ago usually aren’t relevant, and employers are more interested in recent employment history. The exception is if you do not have any other job experience to include and, in that case, you should consider a functional resume rather than a chronological one.

2. Life history

Bosses are primarily interested in skills that apply to the job. They don't want to know (and cannot legally ask) about personal lives, woes or other private or subjective details about a candidate's life. If the information cannot be directly or, in some cases, indirectly, related to the job and be of value, then don't include the information on the resume. If you want, a bit more detail can be shared in your cover letter, but life history information does not belong on a resume. 
Image credit: Pixabay

3. Personal information and photo

Age, sex, race, marital status, children, handicaps (optional if relates to special talents, skills, accomplishments and experience) also have no place when applying for a job; never include any of these kinds of details on a resume.

Photos are usually best to leave off on a resume unless specifically requested, and this is rare. According to a 2011 article published by Careerbuilder

"Not only are your looks irrelevant to your potential as an employee, but you're putting employers in a bad spot. If they have a picture of you and choose not to hire you, it's possible that you could come back with a discrimination lawsuit. In most cases, they'll throw your résumé away without looking at it, to avoid the issue altogether".

A good reason not to include a personal photograph. (However, keep in mind, many employers today DO check out candidates on Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networks where photos will be seen anyway). Including a photo on a resume may someday change, but at this time the jury is still out on the issue. Better to err on the side of caution, although some do argue reasons why you should do it. Best to do your homework on this one and weigh the decision out carefully.

4. False information

Sometimes people try to glamorize their resume up a bit by making themselves to be something they are not. Huge no-no. Most information can be verified, and even info that would be harder to verify usually ends up being exposed at one point or another. Any kind of misleading statements or flat-out lies on a resume is a bad choice; even if a person gets passed the screenings enough to be hired, any falsehoods or misrepresentations usually come out over time either through an admission or through job performance. If exposed through the latter, this can get you blacklisted for future jobs and hurt your professional reputation.

5. Keyword "stuff" to get by ATS

Yes, it's true many organizations use ATS (applicant tracking systems) which basically means your resume is scanned by a computer before ever getting in front of a hiring manager. Experts recommend strategically placing descriptive keywords in your resume so it gets past the computer scan. However, it's important these words fall naturally into the document so it doesn't appear spammy. While a great selection of keywords may (or may not) be read positively by ATS, by the time it gets to an employer's human eyes, it won't have the same effect.

A resume is one of the initial steps to pursuing a job and you want to make sure you get it right. It's important to get a strong gauge for what is appropriate and inappropriate to include on a resume, and the above information is simply not necessary to place in the document. In addition, always remember to keep the tone positive, do not disparage former employers and be sure your resume is flawless of errors.

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