by The Green Fairy

Created on: March 09, 2009

As a professional resume writer I have condensed the twenty year careers of successful executives into two pages of text - and left plenty of white space. When I tell a new client that up to 90% of their resume is going to be edited out they are shocked, but when they see the result they understand why.

A good resume can sum up a person's achievement, abilities and talents in a few paragraphs and bulleted lists. Here are some of the things that I see on resumes which should not be there:

Your school or college grades. These might be relevant if you are fresh out of college or you are still young and applying for a job with very specific knowledge requirements. But once you are a few years into your career employers don't
care too much about grades.

Your hobbies. The majority of people I encounter lead quiet lives. Their hobbies are sports, walking, photography or embroidery. You only need to list your hobbies if you have achievements demonstrating competences which transfer to the workplace such as leadership under pressure.

Job descriptions. Too many people prepare a resume by copying their job description, which is a list of tasks you are meant to perform. If someone is recruiting for the role of Bookkeeper they will already have a good idea of what bookkeepers do. Your resume must not list these tasks; it must focus on your unique achievements.

Poor spelling and punctuation. The meaning of the sentence beginning I am a
proffesional' is immediately contradicted by the inability to spell correctly
but it happens so often. There is no excuse for it in an age of
spell checkers. If you are applying for a job which will earn you thousand of dollars you can afford to take a few minutes to proof-read your resume before sending it out.

Untruths. Resist the temptation to tell a few small lies in your resume. You might never be found out, but if you are there are usually serious consequences. If you
don't believe you are good enough for a role on your own merits, then you probably aren't.

Humor. You might want to liven up an otherwise dull resume with a quip here and there.
I've read a resume where the writer claimed that their main source of physical exercise was an intimate two-player game practised in private only their choice of words was less discrete. Did it raise a laugh in the recruiter's
office? Yes it did. Were they put forward for any positions? No they weren't. Resist the temptation to crack a joke it's unlikely to make a difference in your favour.

There are no guarantees about what will spark a recruiter's or employer's interest, and sometimes an unconventional approach to presenting a resume will work. But most of the time it doesn't, so take that into consideration when deciding what put in, and to leave out, of your resume.

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