What to Include on Your Resume
I’m on a resume kick here this month, so here we are talking about resumes again. Resumes often come across my desk that are missing critical information or have something that should be removed. Resumes are my jam and I love recreating them as much as I love sharing my knowledge about what should be included.
Objective… let’s cross that out… objective. Objectives are outdated and quite frankly a waste of really valuable space on your resume. In its place you should put a Professional Profile or a Skills section. Employers already know you are seeking a job, we don’t need to tell them again. We do want to highlight why you are the right fit for the job and why they should bring you in for an interview.
Your address. This one has been up for debate. You don’t necessarily need to share your full address on your resume, but you should at least put your city, state and zip code. The sometimes sad reality is that employers prefer to interview and ultimately hire someone who is already located in their general area. This doesn’t mean that you are automatically out of contention if you don’t live nearby (we can definitely use the cover letter to show why you are applying to a position outside of your immediate area), but it is sometimes an obstacle to overcome.
Education. Please, please please list any college education you have, even if it isn’t relevant. This stands out to employers in a very positive way. On the other hand, don’t include your high school information unless the posting specifically asks you to. That just takes up precious space on your resume that could be used to showcase the qualities that make you standout.
Past work experience. This is a no-brainer; it needs to be on your resume. However (and this is a big HOWEVER), only your recent and relevant work experiences should be included. If you had a part time side job that isn’t relevant, don’t include it. If you had a relevant job 30 years ago but have lots of other relevant experiences since then, let’s ditch the one that isn’t recent. If you had a full-time job that isn’t relevant but a part-time one that is, include the part-time gig. You get the point. Don’t keep work experiences on there from more than 10 years ago.
References Upon Request. This is a fine section to have if you need to take up a little more space on that second page, but it’s definitely not necessary, so it should be the first thing to go if you need more room.
I hope you’ve found this helpful. If you are looking for more information, please visit my website- Higher & Hire. If I can be of assistance to you, please reach out to me here.
