When preparing your CV, space is limited, so prioritize topics that will help you get employed by making room for the things you want a hiring manager to know about you. Your resume should portray you as an appealing applicant by leaving off the information that hiring managers don’t need to know. In this post, we’ll go through things to leave out when you’re updating a current resume or drafting a new one.
At nexus IT group we see thousands of resumes, some great and some not so great. We’ve put together a list of items you should never put on your resume.
- No self-portrait of yourself
- No Instagram link. No facebook link
- No resumes written on Text Documents (txt). No JPG resumes. Word or PDF only
- If you have over 3 years of work experience, remove your internships
- After your first professional job, remove your high school jobs unless they are applicable to your next career
- Remove your GPA after 3+ years of work experience
- Too much information, such as married with 5 children, or cancer survivor
- No personal interests listed unless it applies to the specific position
- No citizenship status listed unless you feel that it will enhance your response rate from potential employers
- If you must put your college dates on your resume just put your graduation year and not the year you started and ended
- Your age
- Text that is too small to read
- Never bold random words in your resume
Too many specifics regarding your hobbies and interests.
When a hiring manager is going over resumes, he or she will expect to see some personal information. With the growing emphasis on work-life balance and the need for downtime, it’s expected, if not encouraged, to provide some specifics about your interests and hobbies.
This is especially true if the skills are applicable to the work. If you’re going for a veterinarian position, for example, saying that you volunteer at an animal shelter will demonstrate your dedication to animal welfare and altruism.
Even the most relevant hobbies or interests should only take up a couple of lines on your resume, and you should avoid putting anything on there that could jeopardize your application.
A section on your resume listing your hobbies and interests is usually optional. Your hobbies are less likely to be relevant as your job expertise grows.
Negative remarks regarding a previous employment
When drafting your CV, leave out any information regarding why you left a job or, if you’re still working, why you’re unhappy in your present position. You might make a statement about the type of role you want, but keep it positive. Similarly, while explaining your experience, stick to the objective facts about your accomplishments in the role. It’s OK to emphasize some of your obstacles and how you overcome them, but refrain from criticizing other companies.
Personal information that isn’t required
Stick to the material that is most relevant to the position on your resume to highlight the accomplishments that make you a great employee. You can provide a quick explanation if you had a particularly life-changing experience that led to your current employment, but otherwise, save the remainder for an interview.
If your family status, religious convictions, or political leanings are not immediately and particularly relevant to your application, leave them out and concentrate on the professional qualities that make you a suitable candidate.
Errors in spelling and grammatical structure
If you’re applying for multiple jobs and customizing your resume for each one, changing the format and adding new text can result in typos and other mistakes. Request that a friend, family member, or coworker proofread your resume for any errors you may have missed. Spelling and grammar checks can also be found in your word processor or online.
Some people feel that printing their resume makes it simpler to notice mistakes that they may have missed on the computer screen. When proofreading, try pointing to each word with a pen to make sure you’re paying attention to the accuracy of each item. Another technique to encourage yourself to focus on each word is to read your resume aloud.
An unbroken wall of writing
You’ll need to organize the material carefully in addition to keeping it minimal to ensure readability. A well-structured resume is easier to read and brings the attention of a hiring manager to your most job-relevant talents, allowing them to determine whether you are a suitable candidate at a glance.
Bullet points are a good method to graphically showcase your important skills, and the style allows you to make a series of obvious connections between the job description and your expertise. Many recruiters use software that scans resumes for the keywords they’re looking for and assigns you a score based on how well your resume matches their requirements.
Use the same terms in your CV that they do in their job description, and don’t add any photos, charts, or anything else that an automated system won’t recognize as text.
There is far too much information available.
It’s tempting to put everything on your CV that might be related to the job you desire, but there’s a risk of over-inclusion. Keep in mind that recruiters may go through hundreds of resumes in a single day, so being succinct is crucial to catching their attention. If you include the details of every job you’ve held, the key information may be obscured, so concentrate on the talents you possess that make you an excellent candidate for the position you desire.
Include only roles that are either relevant to the job you’re applying for or that are required to demonstrate a particular amount of work experience. Limit your list of job responsibilities to three or four brief instances, and include a skill you learned to offer context.
Inaccuracies in your credentials or experience
Dishonest assertions are at the top of the list of things not to include in your resume. Half-truths, errors, and misleading remarks are all examples of this, but they all amount to the same thing. Many hiring managers are actually quite flexible when it comes to their qualifications, and would accept a candidate with the proper attitude even if they don’t meet all of them, so don’t lie about your background.
What is your age
Despite hiring managers’ best efforts to avoid forming assumptions about applicants, it’s far better not to offer any information that could be used against you. People used to mention their birth date on their resumes, but it’s now considered appropriate to leave out references to your age as much as feasible. If the position you’re applying for has age-related restrictions, simply declare that you meet them and leave it at that.
Small text
Although changing the font size may appear to be a good approach to free up some space on your resume so you can include more information, you want your resume to be easy to read so a recruiter will read as much of it as possible. Reduce your resume to a manageable length by emphasizing your most relevant abilities and utilizing bullet points or brief phrases to keep the word count down. Also, leave some white space on the page for visual appeal. Use a clear, easy-to-read font in a reasonable size, and think about how your resume will look on the page.
About nexus IT group
nexus IT group is a specialized IT staffing agency who recruits top tech talent across the US. If you have an immediate IT opening, or are a job seeker looking to advance your IT career, you’ve come to the right IT staffing firm, contact nexus IT group. We have access to highly skilled, top talent most can’t easily get in front of, so let our recruiting team show you why so many firms trust and love our staffing agency.
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