11 Things You Should Never Put on Your Resume

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I found this on yahoo:

http://financiallyfit.yahoo.com/finance ... =ad0035&nc

A new batch of December graduates is getting ready to fly the coop in search of a job and we hope they've already heard the bad news: There are a lot of unemployed people out there.

If the market far exceeds demand, how do you make sure you get past the resume screening process into the interviewing round? By making sure your resume is flawless.

"Somewhere between 95 to 99% of resumes have stuff that shouldn't be on there," Eli Amdur, senior coach and adviser from the Amdur Coaching and Advisory Group, told us. "The general rule is if you put anything on there that distracts the reader from your real accomplishments, then don't do it. Resumes need to be concise and clear."

We've compiled some tips from career experts to make sure your resume steers clear of the trash pile.

1. Get rid of the objective.

If you applied, it's already obvious you want the job.

2. Cut out all the irrelevant work experiences.

If you're still listing that prized shift leader position from your high school days, it's time to move on.

Yes, you might've been the "king of making milkshakes," but unless you're planning on redeeming that title, it's time to get rid of all that clutter.

3. Take a pass on the personal stuff: marital status, religious preference and Social Security numbers.

This might've been the standard in the past, but all of this information is now illegal for your employer to ask you so there's no need to include it. It will likely only hurt your chances of getting the position more than it would help you, says Catherine Jewell, author of the book "New Résumé, New Career."

Another piece of personal information you should never include on your resume is your Social Security number, Sara Player, client support specialist for CareerBuilder.com, told us. Player isn't actually sure why people decide to include their social security numbers, but she knows she sees it all too often and it's unnecessary, not to mention, a little risky.

4. Don't let your resume exceed one page.

Yes, this might be difficult if you've had a lot of experience and you're proud of all of it. But just because you're proud doesn't mean it's necessarily relevant. Cut it down; employers don't have the time to read two whole pages.

CareerBuilder.com's Sara Player says: "Keep your work history short and to the point. When you describe what you have achieved while in the position, try putting it in bullet form and put what is most important first."

5. Don't list your hobbies.

"Nobody cares — it's not your facebook profile," Player says.

In other words, don't put anything on your resume that's irrelevant to your job. If it's not relevant, then it's a waste of space and a waste of the company's time.

6. Don't give them the chance to guess your age.

Yes, your age is included in personal data, but if you don't want to be discriminated from a position because of your age, it's time to remove your graduation date, says Catherine Jewell.

Doug Hadley of Mansfield, Texas, told MSN that he's begun to leave out the fact that he's a published author: "I don't want to have to omit such things, but I feel as though I don't even get considered if they are on my resume."

Sara Player advises to take out higher education if it's irrelevant to the position you're applying for or if you keep receiving rejection letters stating that you're overqualified.

7. Don't write your resume in the third person.

Charlotte Beckett, head of Digital at The Good Agency, told Linkedin.com that it's fine to write in first person in your opening statement, but the rest of your resume should be in bullet points, such as:

• Developed and delivered marketing strategies for a range of products

[See also: 10 Buzzwords to Avoid on Your Resume]

You should not write in the third person since the recruiter knows you're the one writing the resume.

8. Don't include references.

If your employers want to speak to your references, they'll ask you. Also, it's better if you have a chance to tell your references ahead of time that a future employer might be calling.

If you say "references upon request" at the bottom of your resume, you're merely wasting a valuable line, says career coach Eli Amdur.

9. Don't include a less-than-professional email account.

Make a new one. It takes minutes and it's free.

10. There's no need to identify your phone number.

Amdur says there's no reason to put the word "phone" in front of the actual number.

"It's pretty silly. They know it's your phone number." The same rule applies to email.

11. Don't include your current business contact info.

Amdur writes at Northjersey.com:

"This is not only dangerous, it's stupid. Do you really want employers calling you at work? How are you going to handle that? Oh, and by the way, your current employer can monitor your e-mails and phone calls. So if you're not in the mood to get fired, or potentially charged with theft of services (really), then leave the business info off."

I would add that you should research the company you are applying with, speak to people who work there if at all possible, and rewrite your resume for each company you seriously think you have a shot at working for.

If you are just carpet bombing resumes, there's no way you can do that - but you are better off seeking out companies that you would actually like to work for rather than just taking a shotgun approach.

When you get to the interview, you should absolutely have a clear idea of who they are and what they do there.

I really don't like articles like these, way too full of generalizations.

Nice post on what things should not be included in your resume. As this point is important & it should know for every one. As Resume is an important tool for every one & for every body while facing an interview session.And it is the first communication tool that interacts between our self & with interviewer. So your resume must be in a professional & in standard format.
You can also visit these sites which will guides you on How to write a resume with in a minutes in a professional & in standard format.

How to write a resume
Resume builder
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I really do not know that this is good advise, at least not for Denmark and Northern Europe for all I know, but maybe it is for the US? Advising against graduation date, age, and references seems perculiar. There are different ways of going around it, but maybe your resume will be ignored, if it is considered incomplete, and competes with more complete profiles? Best of luck, guys!

I think some of the suggestions are really great. Especially, “irrelevant work experience”. However, I would advise against removing the section completely. Instead, I would prefer mentioning previous experience briefly. You never know if it helps because “Experience does counts”.

A major red flag for any hirer (having been one myself) is gaps in work experience. I agree it's good not to put too much, but dont leave 6 months+ gap in recent employment history, simply because the job has no relation to the prospective job. Many a times HR and myself toss the applicant with a gap in history without explanation, since there are plenty of applicants that definitely had jobs for the last several years uninterrupted. Indications of work ethic are key to hirers.

My two cents. I didn't say it was a good system, that's just what they trained the managers to do.

What do you recommend someone does to close a gap in work history?

You could tell the employer you've been visiting someone overseas if it's a decent job and that before you went you had a temporary job but have lost the details of the employer perhaps. Or be deliberately sketchy about it. Or if it's a not so good job you could just outright lie and say you've been working elsewhere up until the past three months or so. Give them an obscure employer and they probably won't even contact them. If they did then you could just say the person you listed is a bit loopy.

Lol, it'd probably be a good idea to move along and try to get a job elsewhere if it got to the point. Good luck.

So, how do you explain a 10-year gap between graduation and applying for a job??

Truth: I was raising kids.

Yeah, I'm definitely going back to the service industry I last worked in. Fryer oil, here I come.

My only other hope is to put the stupid English degree to good use as a freelance writer/tutor. I've heard you can do that over the Internet. You probably need Skype, and they probably wouldn't want to look at my, uh, office.

Hope to hell my spouse has a long life (or I have a really short one) and I can keep him happy enough not to get tossed out.

Once, I had plenty of time. Now, I'm getting old. It's pretty much hopeless.

So how do I explain a six year gap when the truth is that I left my last job after a complete nervous breakdown from job stress? Never mind that that job was so vastly more stressful than anything I'm applying for now that it doesn't mean much. I've gone back to school, and fortunately I'd never filled out the paperwork to graduate, so I can list a graduation date of 2007. Then I can list getting my Master's of Accountancy in 2010. None of that changes the fact that I'm 43, trying to get my first job in an industry that got cratered by the recession with a six year gap since my last job.