Things not needed on your Resume

Sending off a resume with all of our new technology has good and bad side effects.  It is great for us, see a job, apply for a job.  No stamps, no envelopes, no paper, no expense.  Click and your resume can be sent to an amazing number of companies.

For companies, this can create a mountain of emails for the hiring managers and recruiters.  So keep in mind that Hiring Managers don't have time to read a 20 page resume.  So let's look at some simple things that can help keep your resume to 3 pages.

Get rid of:

• Objective - totally obsolete nowadays.  Your objective is to get a job.  As soon as you send someone your resume they know what your objective is.
• References available - again totally superfluous.  If they are going to offer you the job you better have 3 good references
• Logos, Pictures - they take up way too much space on the resume and can also make your resume slow to open and cause it not to line up properly.
• Personal Info - like age, marital status, number of children
• Interests/Hobbies - these are things that can be brought up in the interview to break the ice.  But always be careful when mentioning your interests or hobbies.  Applying for a job at an investment company and telling them that you spend every Saturday at the race track or the casino might not give the positive impression you want.
• Unnecessary Bullets 
• Ability to multi-task
• Work independently
• Able to work in a team
• Good time management skills
• Extra Lines/Words - "Title:  Programmer/Analyst", "Company:  Royal Bank of Canada"  take out the words Title and Company, they are not needed
• Company Information - If the company is IBM then there is no need for a description, but if it is a small company that no one has heard of then put a small description in, but keep it small.  One or two lines, you don't need a whole paragraph
• Quotes - I definitely don't need to know what Socrates or Gandhi think about your love of working is.  So leave them off.

I was working on a resume the other day and the candidate had an 18 page resume.  The first job he worked at was only for 9 months and he had 2 pages of bullets.  blah blah.  Streamline your achievements to items that are pertinent to the job you are applying for.  At the interview we can discuss more detail.

Hope this helps and 

Good luck Job Hunting  O:)