You spend so much time padding your resume and putting things in that it’s sometimes easy to lose sight of the things we’d be better off leaving out of our resumes. When resume editing, keep in mind that hiring managers give you about 6 seconds before they put your resume through the shredder. Why not give your resume a little holiday season makeover for the new year?
Remember to focus on only the most relevant information—anything that isn’t clear, clean, and in support of your message or brand can go.
Here are the first 10 things that can get the axe and you should avoid when resume editing.
1. “Objective”
The Objective statement is an irrelevant dinosaur. Replace it with a “Professional Profile” instead—something that summarizes the best parts of your background and shows you off best. Set the tone/theme and use the rest of the resume as proof. The only exception here is if you’re changing fields or industries completely, but that is a rare situation requiring some finessing of its own.
2. Bad Grammar
It may seem like a small thing, but even the smallest error can turn off a keen-eyed recruiter. Keep faithful to first person headlines and double check that all your verbs agree.
3. Mailing Address
You don’t have room for this. No one is going to need it. And it’s probably a security risk.
4. Multiple Telephone Numbers
Pick the best number at which you can consistently be reached, and leave out the rest. If they want multiple methods of contact, they can always email.
5. Too Many Bullets
Don’t bullet everything or you’ll run the risk of over-bulleting. Use this useful tool only to draw out the most important information in a clear manner.
6. Irrelevant Education
Except in specific circumstances, no one needs to know where you went to high school, what college you transferred out of, or your GPA. Include only what makes sense for the jobs you are applying for and leave out the rest.
7. References
Obviously, you’ll provide references on request. Don’t waste valuable space saying so on your resume. If an employer wants them; don’t worry, they will ask.
8. More than One Page
Unless you need to for your particular field, don’t bloat your resume with piles and piles of text. Try to keep it to a clean single page with surgical detail and no extra padding.
9. Mismatched Formatting
When you’re proofreading for content and orthographical or grammatical errors, be sure to also double check your formatting. Keep your underlining, indentations, italics, etc. completely uniform.
10. Lies
No bending the truth necessary. You can portray yourself to best advantage wherever possible, but you never want to include mistruths or outright lies. You will get caught and it won’t be good.
