Things Not to Do on Your Resumé

Too Much Information

It's easy to get overzealous with your catalogue of qualifications, but providing too much information about yourself or your previous jobs can actually turn off the recruiter.  Interviewers are most interested in what is immediately relevant.  Strip down everything, and we mean everything, that has nothing to do with the job at hand.

Also, keep personal details to a minimum.  Unless your hobbies are explicitly relevant, your golf handicap can stay private. 

Grammar Mistakes

The easiest mistakes to make are the ones that look the worst on the resumé.  Slips in language and grammar more often than not will get you disqualified from the race altogether.  It pays to pay attention to style rules, and guides can be found all over the place.  To be assured of the most universally acceptable style, use the AP style guide. Here is a quick guide to the basics. 

Copying Templates

Templates can be an enormously useful tool in writing cover letters and resumés, but copy-pasting format and substituting your own information with minimal changes is a recipe for a generic resumé.  Find your own adjectives, and use the template only for fonts and a guide to formatting.  Remember, templates are somewhat generic, and you don't have to be. That said, here are some handy templates.

Responsibilities vs. Accomplishments

Responsibilities from former jobs are undoubtedly relevant a good deal of the time, but often applicants will forsake listing accomplishments for their duties.  Sure, you were in charge of some kind of database processing, but did you develop a new system?  What did you do that no one else did or could have done?  How did you make this job your own?  What would you do that would not have happened if you were not there?  It's a simple inclusion, but even easier to omit.

Generalized Objective

The beauty of the objective is the open opportunity to describe your professional direction, but often it is filled with a generic placeholder like: "Seeking a position with opportunity for advancement and challenge," or "Looking for a challenging opportunity to grow professionally."  Both the words and the objectives themselves tell the employer next to nothing about the unique passions and wants of the applicant.  Be honest and straightforward, and try to be a little creative. Here are some samples of resumé objectives for different fields.