Most of us know the basics of what goes into a resume: job experience, schooling and your contact information. But when does your resume start to give away too much information? Regardless of your skillset and experience, including too much or unnecessary information on your resume could unintentionally sabotage your chances of getting an interview. Before applying for a job, take a look at your resume to ensure it doesn’t include the following:
Personal Information
Sure, you’ll want to include your name, email and phone number on your resume, but besides these basics, you shouldn’t be disclosing any other personal details about yourself. Including information like your date of birth, marital status, political beliefs, personal social media accounts and headshots (unless specifically requested) is not only unnecessary in most cases, but could accidentally open up your application to unconscious bias. Remember, your application isn’t as much about getting to know you as it is about understanding what your expertise can bring to the workplace.
Certain Fonts & Formats
There is nothing wrong with incorporating a bit of flare to your resume style, but picking the wrong fonts, colors and templates may render your resume illegible and unprofessional. Above all else, your resume should be professional and easy to understand. Stick to fonts such as Calibri, Ariel and Times New Roman, size 12 and font colors in black, darker grays and blue.
Then, before submitting your resume, take a look at it as a Word document, PDF or whatever format your employer will be viewing it as. Then print the resume and have a look at it there. Can you read it? Did the formatting of your resume become disheveled when you converted it into a PDF? It can also be helpful to have a friend read your resume before submitting it to ensure that it appears as you intended it to.
Lengthy Explanations
It can be difficult to edit many years of job experience into a few short sentences, but it can be done. Resumes that overexplain or give too-detailed a description of day-to-day activities can be boring and difficult to read through. Remember, this is a resume and not a CV. Keep your job experience short and to the point. Sentences like “Successfully oversaw the daily tasks and procedures of 50+ employees” can just as easily pique the interest of a hiring manager than a two-paragraph explanation. If you want to provide more detail or share a specific story on how you demonstrated your skills, these are things that can normally be discussed during the interview process.
Check out these interview tips.
Irrelevant Job Experience
Unless your job experience is limited, you’ll only want to discuss your most recent and applicable work experience in your application. For example, if you’re applying to become the manager of a tech firm, you’ll want to showcase your latest employment opportunity and previous positions you’ve held as a manager or in the tech field. Details about the retail job you had in high school or your experiences in a completely different industry may be irrelevant to mention under the “job experience” section. If you want to convey that you hold knowledge in retail or unrelated fields, this information can be included as a bullet point in the “skills” section or can be excluded altogether.
Spelling & Grammar Errors
While everyone makes spelling and grammatical errors from time-to-time, including them in your resume is unprofessional. Especially with simple errors, hiring managers who spot these may assume you lack attention to detail, aren’t taking the job seriously or throw your resume out altogether. Luckily, spelling and grammatical errors are some of the easiest to fix before turning in your resume. Go through and edit your resume after you’ve written it, use spellcheck and have a friend go through and read it to check for errors. Certain online applications that are trained to find these kinds of errors can also be helpful to utilize.
Negativity
Both in your resume and your interview, omit any details about your negative experiences with previous employers or why you left those positions. Instead, focus on why you want to be considered for the position you’re applying for. Mention how this position could be an opportunity for career growth and include references from your previous job if possible. Expressing negativity about previous places of employment, especially so early on in your relationship with a potential employer, may label you as ungrateful or difficult, thus lowering your chances of becoming employed and/or getting the job you really want.
