I will never advocate that you shorten your resume by cutting powerful content, relevant details, and important experience. However, for many, a four, five, or even 10-page resume is definitely overdoing it. This mainly happens due to resume ‘clutter’. Often these woeful resumes are complete with extra unnecessary details, functional jargon, redundancy, and irrelevant items. These types of resumes need to be de-cluttered.
Now, I’m asking you what has to go when you declutter your résumé. Here are 5 items you should remove from your document before submitting it for a position.
1. Home address
There are 2 reasons why you shouldn’t include your home address on your résumé. The first is pretty obvious. We no longer communicate via snail mail. Hiring authorities will contact you with email, LinkedIn messaging, and even text.
The second reason is that you can exclude yourself from consideration if you live beyond what hiring authorities consider commuting distance. Years ago a recruiter was kind enough to review my client’s résumé for an opening. He looked at it for two seconds and said, “No good. She lives 50 miles from our company.” Case in point.
2. Fluff
Starting a resume summary with worn-out and boring lead ins such as: “Dedicated, results-oriented, Sales Professional who works well as part of a team and independently….” There are so many violations with an opening like this.
The solution is obvious; stay clear of meaningless adjectives. The golden rule is show rather than tell. Try: Sales Manager who consistently outperforms projected sales growth by double figures. Collaborate with departments company-wide, ensuring customer satisfaction is achieved.
3. Graphics*
Graphics are cool. They add panache to your résumé, are visually appealing, and say a thousand words. However, the applicant tracking system (ATS) doesn’t digest them well.
Graphic artists, web designers, photographers, and other artistic types rely on graphics to demonstrate their work. Business developers, marketers, salespersons, etc. feel numeric graphs make a strong point when expressing their accomplishments. The ATS will kick these out.
If you feel your résumé could benefit from graphics, the solution is to get your résumé in the hands of the hiring manager, which is a good policy anyway. Or if your résumé will be opened as an attachment, format your résumé to your heart’s content.
4. Objective statement
These words should be erased from your vocabulary. There is nothing redeeming about an Objective Statement. Most of them read: “Seeking an opportunity which provides growth, stability, and a rewarding opportunity.” Where in this Objective Statement is there mention of what the client brings to the employer?
Nowhere. That’s where. A Summary, on the other hand, does a better job of showing what value you’ll bring to the table. That’s, of course, when fluff is excluded from it and an accomplishment or two are included. If you’re wondering how your résumé tells the employer the job you’re seeking, simply write it above the Summary.
5. Duties
Everyone performs duties, but who does them better; that’s what employers are trying to determine. Take the following duties my aforementioned client showed me followed by my reactions in parentheses. Then read my suggested revisions below them.