Remember that a hiring manager will only spend seconds looking at your resume. Cutting the clutter is critical to your resume getting you an interview.
Recognize that you are sending personal information that stays in computer files for months to years.
Ask two questions when you are writing your resume.
- Will this information get you an interview?
- Will this information create risks to you or your family?
With these two thoughts in mind, I recommend that you leave the following information off your resume.
1. Leave the statement “References provided upon request” off your resume. When employers want to conduct reference checks, they will ask you for references and tell you what type of people to include in your references.
2. Leave an objective off your resume. Your objective is clear from the fact that you are submitting your resume for a job.
3. Leave fancy designs or colors off your resume. Your resume is not a website. It is a formal business document.
4. Leave letters of recommendation off your resume. You can include letters of recommendation with your resume, but not in your resume.
5. Leave the word “Resume” off your resume. You can put the word “resume” in the subject line of an email or in a cover letter, but do not title your resume, “Resume.” Putting the title “Resume” at the top is similar putting the word “Letter” at the top of a letter or the word “Email” at the top of an email.
6. Unless your hobbies make you qualified for the job for which you are applying, leave your hobbies off your resume. Your list of hobbies is a tiring distraction for hiring and staffing managers, who read dozens to hundreds of resumes.
7. Leave your picture off your resume. If you are interviewing for a job that requires that you give pictures of yourself, create a portfolio.
8. Leave personal and confidential information off your resume. The purpose of leaving this information off your resume is that you are releasing information that will not help you but may hurt you or your family. Specifically, leave this information off your resume.
- Leave your height and weight off your resume.
- Leave your ethnicity off your resume.
- Leave your physical description off your resume.
- Leave your marital status and information about your children off your resume.
- Leave your date of birth off your resume.
- Leave your social security information off your resume.
- Leave statements about your home ownership off your resume.
- Leave your income off your resume.
- Leave your financial information off your resume.
- Unless this information qualifies you for a job, leave your political, religious, or social affiliations off your resume.
9. Leave anything negative about yourself off your resume: low or mediocre grade-point averages, career or business failures, criminal history, or statements about losing a job off your resume.
10. If you have attended college or trade schools, leave your grade school or high school information off your resume.
For more information
Resumes
Cutting Weak Wording From Your Resume
Is a List of Core Responsibilities a Resume?
Is Your Resume a Success Story?
