Typos, grammatical errors, and bad formatting are three possible reasons why an employer could reject your application. But what else might be contributing to your lack of success in getting interviews? Here are 12 things you should consider leaving off your resume:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Generic objective statements<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, wouldn’t everyone like a \u201cchallenging position at a company that provides a great work-life balance and the opportunity for growth\u201d? If you cannot take the time to customize your resume for the specific job you\u2019re applying for, why should the employer read any further?<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. An unprofessional email address<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you still use an email from your younger years, like BeerLover789@gmail.com or PartyAnimal123@yahoo.com, get rid of it. It\u2019s unprofessional and childish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. Lengthy description of duties and responsibilities<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead of writing a lengthy list of what you did in the job, focus on what makes you stand out. State your accomplishments and explain how you added value to your company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. <\/strong>Jargon or abbreviations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Always use generally-understood descriptions on your resume unless you are certain it will be read by people who are familiar with the terminology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. Gaps in work history<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Explain all gaps. If you took a couple years off while your children were young, state this. If you were unemployed for a bit, fill in this gap with volunteer or consulting work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6. Irritating buzzwords<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Words like \u201cmission-critical,\u201d \u201ctraction,\u201d \u201csynergies,\u201d and \u201cfoster\u201d are simply annoying and greatly overused. Under no circumstances should they find their way into your resume or cover letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7. Where you live<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s highly unlikely any employer is going to be sending you anything by mail and it could introduce the risk of economic profiling or an assumption about the length of your commute. Only include your name, email, cell number, and link to your LinkedIn profile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 8. <\/strong>Political or religious affiliation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Unless you are applying for a job within a political or religious organization, avoid mentioning any involvement you might have with these organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 9. <\/strong>Reason why you left previous jobs<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This will come up during the interview and you can discuss it then. If you are forced to fill in this blank in an online portal, simply list something like \u201ccareer advancement\u201d as the reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 10. <\/strong>Salary history<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Any salary discussion is best left until later in the hiring process. Salary is a process of negotiation and revealing your salary history too early could put you at a disadvantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 11. References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Providing references in advance means that the employer could call one before you even know if you want the job. This could be embarrassing especially if your references are connected with your current employer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 12. <\/strong>Lies, exaggerations and embellishments<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pretty much everything you state on your resume can be verified. If you are hired and it is later discovered that you were untruthful on your resume, you could be fired \u201cfor cause,\u201d which usually means you receive no notice or severance pay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Typos, grammatical errors, and bad formatting are three possible reasons why an employer could reject your application. But what else might be contributing to your lack of success in getting interviews? Here are 12 things you should consider leaving off your resume: 1. Generic objective statements Yes, wouldn’t everyone like a \u201cchallenging position at a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":1024,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/geraldwalsh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9191"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/geraldwalsh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/geraldwalsh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geraldwalsh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geraldwalsh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9191"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/geraldwalsh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9369,"href":"https:\/\/geraldwalsh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9191\/revisions\/9369"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geraldwalsh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/geraldwalsh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geraldwalsh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geraldwalsh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}