Five things you shouldn’t put in your resume
This is a piece by www.wearelaika.com, a platform for matching Tech professionals with companies. Check out more content here.
If you are a job seeker, you are aware of the importance of a good resume. There are a lot of capable professionals who have the skills and experience for a job, but their CV isn’t well written so they give the wrong impression.
There are many things you should check off to make the perfect CV: right formatting, making sure it reflects your biggest strengths and skills, professionalism, authenticity… Look creative, but not too creative. Look humble, but also show your awards and accomplishments. Look experienced, but also don’t lie. It is a hard thing to perfect.
And while you are mastering the art of the CV and trying to make it all look good and plausible, the average recruiter spends only 6 seconds before deciding if you are worthy of an interview or not.
“They’re looking for job hoppers, minimum education requirements, and a candidate’s steady career progression,” says Will Evans, TheLadders’ head of user experience and conductor of the study. “It’s a snap decision.”
Since there is no one universal CV you can use for every single job you apply to, you have to adapt it to the specific needs. Here, we will focus on what NOT to put in your CV. The red flags that a recruiter will notice in those six seconds.
A chaotic and personal CV
Although hobbies and interests speak about you as a person, not everything is relevant when you are seeking a job. Don’t talk to the recruiter who is reading your CV as if they are a person you just met in a friendly environment. The fact that you spend your weekend hiking and binge-watching Netflix shows is not at all important. Also, the CV is not a place to be super creative. Follow the required standards and try to be as formal as possible. Don’t put emojis, don’t joke in the email, don’t talk in the first person. All of this makes you look very unprofessional and immature.
If you have to add a photo of yourself on the CV, make it a very professional one. Don’t crop yourself out of a group photo or apply a selfie. A slight smile, good lighting, professionally dressed is the way to go.
Personal address
The city you live in is usually informative enough. If you are applying for an office job, the recruiter would be interested in knowing whether or not you live in the same city. Relocation usually means extra money, daily commuting from another city means a tired employee, etc. But, the specific address is not needed on a CV. Why you might ask? It is outdated — job applicants used to put on their address because that is where they would expect a reply. In their literal mailbox. Now, everything is handled online, so the email address is what they need to know. And in this day and age, every additional info we share about ourselves is a security risk.
Job hopping
A big hole in your employment, serial job changes, inconsistency… These are signs that you are not a person to be trusted and seen in the same place long-term. It looks like you are unable to commit.
And these things happen. Sometimes you don’t see yourself there, sometimes the employer doesn’t stick to the plan and you don’t get what you are promised, you have to move, there are industry-wide layoffs… Things happen outside of our grasp. That is why you have to be prepared to defend your hopping :)
Although it’s not advisable to skip the dates or a job where you spent a short time altogether, you can draw their attention to your skills and achievements section first. That doesn’t mean you should lie — just use what you have in the best way possible.
If you get called for an interview and are asked why you left your last job, be transparent, but respectful. Explain that your skills weren’t utilized well. That the company downsized. That you had to move. Don’t talk badly about your previous employers — that is a big red flag on itself.
Spelling and grammar mistakes and inattention to detail
A reviewing and rereading of your CV can save you from being passed as a candidate because you didn’t manage to notice you have a spelling or grammar mistake. Missing letters and words, grammatically incorrect sentences and bad formatting will make you lose your chance of getting a job because of a rookie mistake.
Pay close attention to details. Maybe there is a certain format for the CV you have to follow. Maybe you saved the CV in .png instead of a .pdf format. Maybe you didn’t notice Word moving a line of text on the next page because of a photo, and you ended up with a two-page CV where the second page is just two words.
Read the requirements for the application, and after you are done writing your resume, cover letter and all additional documents you have to provide, proofread them. It is such a small, but crucial task.
No progress on the same job for more than 3 years
A person who stays at the same job for more than three years and is never promoted says… Well, that person is a mediocre worker who does not invest in learning and growing.
Although loyalty and persistence are skills that are highly valued in every worker, the fact that you didn’t climb a single ladder for such a long time is an indicator that you won’t work harder or better. Companies like visionaries, creative forces that can adapt and grow with the business itself.
There are many small details that influence the effect your CV will have on a recruiter. Luckily, you don’t need a CV or cover letter at Laika. Create your portfolio in a few minutes and easily and anonymously apply to the job of your dreams :)
