How Millions of People Are Killing Their Résumés

A few days ago, a friend asked me to review his résumé.

Frankly, I’m not a big believer in résumés anymore because personal branding is the name of the game in today’s job market.

Anyway, at the bottom of my friend’s résumé, he wrote: references available upon request

Now, I know this is a common phrase to include on a résumé, but why? It’s not common to write experience available upon request, or degree available upon request, so why do so many people write references available upon request?

The fact is, unless you’re applying for a job at a multinational conglomerate that has a dedicated HR department, most people who do the hiring and firing for a company are doing so in addition to their core role and responsibilities.

In other words, these people have very little time and patience to review applications and résumés, let alone to request additional information from someone who they consider a prospect for whatever position is available.

Therefore, if I was applying for a job, I’d do everything possible to minimize the amount of time it takes to review my résumé, such as:

• Listing all of my references as relevant
• Limiting my résumé to no more than one page
• Adding plenty of white space to increase ease of reading
• Only including information that is 100-percent relevant to the position for which I’m applying.

Everything else is a nail in the coffin.