30 Things To Remove From Your Resume Immediately

30 THINGS TO REMOVE FROM YOUR RESUME IMMEDIATELY

Photo by Fanette Rickert

When you’re applying for jobs, you probably try to put on all the possible things on your resume to show your expertise. But here is the truth: Space is a precious commodity on your resume, so you’ll want to exclude many items to make space for essential ones. Here’s a list of non-essentials that we encourage you to eliminate from your resume unless it is requested and appropriate in your country:

Photograph, images and charts
Age
Full address (Street names & neighborhoods bring up associations that may hurt you. For example, someone may assume your commute is too long)
Citizenship status
Unprofessional email address or an email address from your current employer
GPA
Multiple phone numbers
Relationship status
Religion
Sexual orientation
Social security number (Sharing this information could put you at risk for identity theft)
Outdated or irrelevant social media profiles
Excessive information about college
Irrelevant work experience
Terms, job titles, and acronyms that are specific to your previous employer and aren’t universal to the industry (This sort of jargon can be confusing to recruiters and HR managers.)
Too much of the past
Weird or potentially polarizing interests
Praising adjectives, exaggerations or unnecessarily big words (your experience and competencies will speak volumes)
Tiny, unimportant jobs from 15+ years ago
Lies and fake credentials
References or a line mentioning that references are available upon request
Too many colors
Salary history
Jobs you were fired from due to ethical misconduct
Outdated or universal skills
Clichéd phrasing
Prose or entire paragraphs
Unnecessarily long bulleted lists
Spelling and grammar errors (employers may believe that you’re inattentive and produce poor quality work)
Technical jargon specific to one industry, especially if you’re applying for jobs in other industries