7 Things to Leave OFF your Resume!

You often hear or read about what you should INCLUDE in your resume to make yourself marketable, but not so much what you shouldn’t. I see hundreds of resumes a week and some have a little bit too much information! Below is a list of my top 7 items to REMOVE from your resume to help you land your dream job!

1. Your full address. Once your resume is uploaded to internet, it’s pretty much fair game to just about anyone. Your current city and state, as well as your phone number and email address are enough for an employer to have access to prior to extending you an offer.
2. Your year of graduation. Leave it off unless you are a recent grad (within 2 years) as it can unfortunately contribute to age discrimination.
3. The name of your high school. Even if you don’t have any formal education beyond high school, it’s best to leave it off. If you don’t have a degree, adding your high school will only call attention to a fact that could easily be uncovered during an interview. Most companies have you complete an employment application where it is appropriate to list, if asked.
4. Graphics. Only use graphics, pictures and portraits if it directly impacts the job you are applying to-graphic designer, social media coordinator, reporter and others similar. Leave off random pictures, clip art and borders that only look like you are trying to fill up space.
5. Typos. Double, triple and quadruple check your resume before hitting send or print! And then have a trusted friend check it again! There is absolutely no reason your resume should have typos, whether spelling or grammatical.
6. The word etc. A resume is not the place to leave anything to the reader’s imagination! Etc. makes you look lazy and hiring managers don’t hire lazy!
7. Tables and weird formatting. Most resumes go through an applicant tracking system that breaks them down by text. If you format your resume using anything other than a word processing program, it could arrive in the interviewer’s inbox completely disjointed and unreadable. It is best to use a Word document if possible, with a PDF as an alternative. Make sure you also upload an actual file and not a link to a file as well.