We all know that a résumé is a summary of your education and employment history. Yet, there is something called ‘too much information’. So, what are the things you should exclude from your résumé? These are some of such things:
Don’t Mention your Disability.
There are jobs that require that you disclose any disability that you have. For instance, a civil engineer who is applying for a construction job in a company may have to disclose that he/she suffers from vertigo.
However, your résumé is not the medium through which you disclose your disability or ailment that may impede your doing some aspects of that job. Save that for the interview.
Don’t Include your Race in your Résumé.
Ideally, there is no place whatsoever in the corporate world for mentioning your race or tribe. The only place where it may come up or you could use it to your disadvantage is when your team is working in a particular region, and you happen to be from there or you speak the language.
Then, it gives your team an advantage to have you, since you could serve as a liaison or translator, thus smoothing out any friction that could arise in the course of the project.
However, all these things may come up when you are already a part of the company. Your résumé is not the document on which you advertise your tribe. Avoid anything that could play to the bias of a member or members of the hiring team.
Exclude your Religion.
Exclude your religion from your résumé. Whatever your belief may be, it should not be a reference point or the focus of your CV. Remember that your résumé is a summary. So, summarise and exclude the irrelevant information. Your CV is like a highlight or reel, not an autobiography.
Leave out your Goals.
If you aim to become a partner in the firm you are applying to by the year 2029, your résumé may not be the right place to say that. Don’t go on telling the company how you intend to rise through the ranks very quickly and how you are laser-focused on your goal of becoming a partner. That is likely to rub the recruiters the wrong way.
Talking about your goals in a CV will take up a lot of space and most likely ensure that you do not join that company. Announcing your goals to your prospective bosses may make you look overly ambitious.
It may also make you seem self-centered and unlikely to be a team player. No company wants employees who are self-absorbed or self-centered. They want you to put the company’s objectives first and work towards them.
Be Silent on your Likes and Dislikes.
A prospective employer would like to get to know you, but only to an extent. Employers want to know how your experience, education, and skills make you the right person for the job. Your likes and dislikes should not be a part of your résumé.
If for any reason you have to discuss a particular liking of yours, it could be in an interview. However, that preference of yours should be related to the job or be a quality that makes you suitable for the job.
For instance, having a fondness for animals is likely to give you an advantage if you are applying for the job of a pet caregiver. All the same, that should not be a feature of your CV.
Don’t Include your Age.
Age could be a silent limiting factor for some jobs. Even though labour laws are against age discrimination, some organizations still use age as a criterion for employment. However, they do not make it obvious; it is an in-house secret.
Bearing this in mind, do not include your age or date of birth in your CV. Including your age in your résumé would only get your CV tossed aside. If the company you are applying to has the silent age limit criterion, and you are older or younger than their age limit, they may not bother inviting you to the next stage of the application process. Your application would be eliminated at that early stage.
Therefore, play to your strengths. Downplay or avoid anything that may put you at a disadvantage.
The goal of your résumé is to get you in the door and give you a chance to be called for a test and/or an interview. So, you have to ensure that you do not impede yourself from moving to the next stage, because of unnecessary information that could get your résumé discarded.
Exclude anything that does not showcase how talented, experienced and suitable you are for the job. Try to see things from the perspective of the Human Resources Manager or any person reading your résumé.
Remember that people have biases, and even though professionals should work on their biases, in order to stop them from beclouding their judgments, biases are difficult to completely get rid of. Give yourself a chance to get that job.
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