Your resume’s primary function is to convince the employer that you should be interviewed for a job. Your resume should hence contain statement of facts about your employment history, education accomplishments and skills — written in such a way as to make an employer take notice. We’ve seen numerous job-seeker resumes, talked with employers and other experts and now provide you with the five things you should never have on your resume.
Don’t include Duties and Responsibilities
One of the most common errors — perhaps the most common error — is listing the responsibilities and duties of your previous jobs. Prospective employers do not care about your duties and responsibilities. Employers are rather interested in knowing about your accomplishments at each of your previous roles that you performed. Mentioning roles and responsibilities show that you completed what was asked throughout and were never proactive in seeking new opportunities.
Disclose a certain level of personal information
This section of the resume should be kept as short as possible. It used to be normal to provide more personal details, such as gender, date of birth and marital status, at the top of your CV. However, times have changed and it is no longer necessary to include these details on a CV.
The only personal information included on your resume should be key contact information — your name location (city state) email and phone number. Listing your full address is fine but most experts suggest leaving off your address — and even your complete location — to protect your privacy.
It should be your resume only, don’t include references
References never belong on your resume. If a job posting doesn’t request references, the answer is simple: don’t list any references on your resume or send any references with your job application.
When references are required as part of the job application, send or upload a separate page with a list of references, including name, job title, company, address, phone, and email address for each of your references.
Salary or salary expectations shouldn’t be hard quoted
Previous salary information and expected salary do not belong in the resumes; they should rather be a part of the interview discussion. Some employers ask for salary information to be included in your cover letter. When asked explicitly, it is completely fine.
Unprofessional contact information
76% of times recruiters will reject your resume for an unprofessional email id. So if you have a resume, an email made_4_u_999@yahoo.com don’t include it on your resume. Get a professional email id with possibly a combination of name and DOB.
Your first impression matters a lot, you can ensure your resumes showcases your right self by knowing not only what to include, but also what not to include.
Good luck in your job search.
“References never belong on your resume. If a job posting doesn’t request references, the answer is simple: don’t list any references on your resume or send any references with your job application”.