Recruiters can see nonsense in a CV at 10 paces and it’s going to instantly destroy your chances of an interview. Here are 10 no-noes for your resume.
1) Don’t Set An Overly Lofty Goal
Is your career goal to be super-wealthy? To run your own company? To lead an award-winning team? Guess what? Recruiters and potential employers don’t care. Worse yet, they might not even believe you if put a suspiciously lofty or noble objective on your resume. It’s often something added to downloadable resumes and that is why you should not download templates. The “career objective” section of a resume is awfully hard to justify. It doesn’t tell readers anything useful, particularly if you fill it with clichés and platitudes. Unless an employer specifically requires it, cut the objective entirely. That gives you more space for meaningful stuff, like skills and work experience.
2) Don’t Add Irrelevant Achievements
If you were elected prom queen or your class voted you most likely to succeed, good for you. Those are great things to mention in the informal part of an interview or on a first date. But do such “achievements,” which have no relevance to your desired career, really belong on your resume? No, they do not. Academic achievements? Sure, throw them on. Meaningful extracurricular achievements – like winning a citizenship award for volunteer work or leading your school’s computer club – are welcome too. Just exercise common sense and make sure the achievements you pick are relevant or significant or, ideally, both.
3) Don’t Cite Previous Salaries
There are a host of different reasons not to list previous salaries on your resume. Even if you don’t accidentally price yourself right out of contention for the job, past salaries will serve as the starting point for negotiating your next salary if you share them. You’re aiming to make more money as you progress to new positions, right? Don’t hamstring yourself by setting up your salary negotiation as an uphill battle.
4) Don’t Lie
Someday I’ll stop having to say this, but it remains the single most important thing to avoid on your resume. Don’t lie. Don’t falsify details or “pad” your experience out with exaggerations. Lying on your resume always comes back to haunt you. Technology makes it easier all the time for prospective employers to learn about you, and resume fibs can now be caught with amazing speed. Stick religiously to the truth on your resume, particularly when it comes to cold hard facts. Don’t fudge dates of employment to try to wipe out a gap. Don’t claim responsibilities you never actually held. Be honest! Here are some tips to prevent issues being more visible should you need help.
5) Don’t Give Your Age
Interviewers are allowed to ask you how old you are. This leads rapidly to a legal gray area, though, because age discrimination is a no-no. Don’t push your recruiter or interviewer toward that thorny topic by sticking your age or birthdate on your resume.
6) Don’t Provide References
Don’t list your references on your resume. Don’t even waste a line on the old chestnut “references available upon request.” If references are a key part of your interviewer’s procedure, rest assured, they’ll ask for them when the time comes. Offering them up before they’re needed just wastes precious resume real estate.
7) Don’t Provide Personal Information
Your resume is not your Facebook profile. It doesn’t need to tell recruiters that you have three kids, enjoy gardening, or go to a particular church. (Obviously, there are exceptions; those facts might be relevant if you’re applying to a daycare, a nursery, or a religious nonprofit.) Your personality and your background will naturally come out after you prove your professional skills and land the job. Don’t load “getting to know you” factoids onto your resume. Consider one last good argument against sharing personal tastes up front: What if your interviewer doesn’t share them? If your interviewer happens to hate gardening, congratulations: You’ve just given yourself a big disadvantage by inviting him or her to judge you on grounds that have nothing to do with your professional abilities.
