7 resume ‘don’ts’ to beware of
You often hear about all of the things you should do in your resume to make it stand out in a hiring manager’s pile, but there are also some things you should be careful of that might work against you.
Don’t add your graduation date
Employers will take every opportunity to pay you less. If they see that you are a recent graduate or are “too old” for the industry, they may offer you less or not hire you at all. Leaving your graduation date out of your education section on your resume might help you negotiate for higher pay.
Don’t add your photo to your resume
It is human nature to make judgments about a person based on a first impression. A photo on a resume is not a good first impression. It is much better to have that in person. Adding a photo to your resume may take away the focus from the content of your resume.
Don’t add references to your resume
If a hiring manager likes you, they will ask for your references. Adding references on your resume or saying “references available upon request” is a waste of space where you can write something else.
Don’t lie on your resume
The truth comes out sooner or later. Lying on your resume will not help you. No one can take away something you’ve achieved honestly and it will make you feel better and more confident in yourself that you’ve achieved something without lying.
Don’t go over two pages
Hiring managers go through tens if not hundreds of resumes. They will only be looking at your resume for a minute, maybe less. Keep your resume to 1-2 pages. Your master resume may be much longer, but when applying for a job, add only the experiences that are relevant to that position.
Don’t use more than two fonts
Your design is just as important as the content. Your resume should be easy to read. It should use clear fonts like Times New Roman, Arial and Helvetica. Using more than two fonts throughout your resume breaks consistency and makes it harder to read.
Don’t send it as a Word document
Word documents can get corrupted and messed up when sent or submitted through an online portal. To ensure that your resume arrives exactly how you want it to look, save it as a PDF and then submit it.
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Main photo by olia danilevich / Pexels
