What does not belong in a resume?

Resume Tips
#1

What does not belong in a resume?

#2

Mentioning too old information is not relevant to be mentioned in resume. One should be very much specific in writing content. Do not use personal pronouns, write in third person form. Avoid writing reference if it is not asked. Do not write all social media links if you do not use social media for something professional

#3

Resume is your substitute, it is a document that represents you where you cannot be present yourself. Any recruiter, hiring manager judges you by your resume that is seen by them. Also since many of the hirings are done for a particular role in mind, the hiring manager should see the resume as a fit for the role, by and large. Thus any thing that does not fit in the above scheme, should not be a part of the resume, just to illustrate, the following things should NOT be a part of your resume

  1. Declaration - “I hereby declare that all information is true to best of my knowledge… bla bla bla” - this is absolutely not needed
  2. Residential address - Almost all the communication happens over email, so mentioning a residential address doesnt add any value.
  3. Place of birth - Not needed
  4. Nationality - It might be needed in case of where you are applying jobs outside india
  5. Older achievements - “Stood 1st in elocution competition in 9th standard” - No one is interested in knowing that detail. Any achievement that is older than 5/7 years, should not be mentioned (unless it is an extra ordinary one)
  6. Detailed Job description - In many Resumes we see a very detailed job description which describes the role in detail; Not needed; Also no need to write all the projects that were done as a part of work-ex
  7. References - References are not expected in a resume, they can be given afterwards in a separate document, if asked by the company / hiring manager
  8. B-school competitions - Unless the achievement is “National champions” or runner up at the national levels, adding b-school competitions to the resume doesnt add much value.

It’s not that the more number of CV points you have, the better is your Resume; It should have the points that are relevant to the role and the ones that do justice to your talent and skills.

Remember, Less is More !!

#4

Agree with this.

#5

Here’s some things you should leave off your resume:

  • Anything that can lead to you being discriminated against (age, gender, race, religion, marital status)
  • A photo - it takes up unnecessary space and can lead to discrimination (only leave it on if the job calls for it e.g. modelling).
  • Any irrelevant experience - only include experiences that directly link to the role you are applying for, or show transferrable skills required for the role you are applying for.
  • Every detail about your school experience - only include the name of the school, and any roles you may have had that provided use you with useful transferable skills. You do not need to list all of the grades you achieved.