4 Things You Need to Remove From Your Resume

Updated: March 2020

Much like your Facebook, LinkedIn and forgotten MySpace have evolved stylistically and developed over the years, so should your resume. The Human Resources industry has evolved and adapted better technological tools to gather and sort through hundreds of resumes. As such, your resume has to be as effective as possible. The traditional resume format that was used 5-10 years ago, and at times is still being unfortunately and haphazardly shared, is no longer the standard. The following four items need to be removed to improve the quality and effectiveness of your resume.

1. Address

You no longer need your full address on your resume. Due to the development of security risks and the ability to widely share your resume, you want to limit the amount of personal information that is available to, what some would call, "the cyber". For the resume, a simple city and state will address the needs of the recruiter. You will eventually have to provide your full address on your legal application to the company.

2. Objective

In outdated tutorials and templates, you may have seen a section called an objective. A candidate would provide a very simple statement such as, "I am looking for a director position (or whatever title they are pursuing) at XYZ Company."

There are a couple of issues with this "Objective" section. For one, there is a lot of room for error. With the ability to apply to tens of jobs within minutes, it is easy to forget to adjust the title and the company you are pursuing. As a recruiter, I would see this as a lack of attention to detail. Another issue with the overall objective of the "Objective," it's rather redundant. It's quite clear you are pursuing ABC position at XYZ company because you have applied to it. This resume "real estate" should be used more effectively.

The current trend is to use a branding statement. You can see this as your elevator pitch to the company. The branding statement is usually 2-4 brief sentences addressing your strengths and goals. This has replaced the objective and becomes more effective as you grow within your career. You would find this section after your contact information, but before your experience and education. As an example, I've provided the branding statement I used on my resume to help land a management position at the age of 25.

"Creative, experienced, energetic talent acquisition leader looking to grow and develop skills. Skilled at establishing strategic partnerships and coaching executives, managers and employees. Strong track record of streamlining processes and managing multiple projects. Reputation for undertaking challenging assignments."

3. References

In older templates, you usually find a references section at the bottom of the resume. Traditionally, one of two things was added here: "Available upon request" or names, emails and phone numbers of your references.

In the pursuit of effectiveness, leaving this section completely off of your resume is the best option. The phrase "Available upon request" is superfluous. The recruiter would assume that you would provide references if asked. Also, the need for the contact information for your references isn't needed until much later in the interview process, if at all. By placing the contact information for your references in your resume, you may also be providing a security risk and unintentional invitation for solicitation from insurance agencies, scammers, and an occasional prince looking to send his millions to the U.S.

In the recruitment industry, the use of references overall is being widely debated. Some organizations have decided to forgo reference checks with valid reasoning. Most references that are provided are specifically chosen by the candidate to present them in a good light. The feedback received from these references is largely biased and will not provide any additional information aside from what the candidate has already shared.

4. Pictures and Graphics

You want to keep the format of your resume as simple and straightforward as possible. Unless you are a graphic artist, illustrator, marketing professional, there truly isn't a need for graphics or complex formatting for your resume. This will only affect how your resume is processed on recruiting software and how easy it is for a hiring manager to decipher.

I have also started to see increased trend of adding a picture to your resume. Don't. Just don't. Do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars. A picture can affect your chances from unconscious bias to just making the wrong stylistic choice (Mirror selfie on a resume? Yes, I have seen it.). Have employers focus on your experience, skill set and education, not how you do or don' t look.

As a candidate, now you have additional "resume real estate" to add more about your accomplishments at each position and highlight any special skills you might have (a second language, specific software training, etc.). Use this space wisely my friends.

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#Resume #References #Branding #JobSearching