3 Hard Truths About Your Resume

3 Hard Truths About Your Resume As you begin writing your resume, you may be inclined to include too much or too little information, go back to far in your job history, or not properly highlight your skills and qualifications. Most people do not enjoy writing about themselves and find writing a resume a daunting task. Instead of wondering WHAT information to include, I encourage you to think about WHY you include certain information. In fact, most of the time, we need to consider these HARD TRUTHS about your OLD resume. (Click HERE to contact me for a FREE resume review!) #1 â€" Get rid of the objective. The truth is, your objective is painfully obvious. In fact, you wouldn’t be sending a resume if you didn’t want a new job. So, your ultimate objective is to secure an interview for a new job opportunity. So, instead of putting an objective on your resumeâ€"which takes up valuable space at the top of your documentâ€"use that area to make a short career summary that allows you to hit upon the key words used in the job posting. #2 â€" Don’t include every single job. The hard truth is that NO ONE wants to hear about you flipping burgers in high school or working as a bank teller 25+ years ago. The ONLY time that information is relevant is if you are now applying for a similar position. Otherwise, this information doesn’t pertain to today’s job environment and just dilutes your resume with old information. #3 â€" Be careful with dates. Don’t include dates on your educationâ€"unless you graduated a couple of weeks ago and have zero work history. Otherwise, the date you graduated from high school or college is not relevant. In addition, include the last 10-15 years of job history andâ€"if you feel the need to include older informationâ€"then include it in a section of earlier work history with no dates. Finally, each time you consider adding a section, responsibility, or achievement, think, “Who cares?”   and “Does this matter to THIS job opportunity?” If the answer is that it won’t matter in the long run, then don’t include it. Instead, think of your resume as a clean, concise, and focused document that allows you to highlight your strengths and forgets the rest. 3 Hard Truths About Your Resume As you begin writing your resume, you may be inclined to include too much or too little information, go back to far in your job history, or not properly highlight your skills and qualifications. Most people do not enjoy writing about themselves and find writing a resume a daunting task. Instead of wondering WHAT information to include, I encourage you to think about WHY you include certain information. In fact, most of the time, we need to consider these HARD TRUTHS about your OLD resume. (Click HERE to contact me for a FREE resume review!) #1 â€" Get rid of the objective. The truth is, your objective is painfully obvious. In fact, you wouldn’t be sending a resume if you didn’t want a new job. So, your ultimate objective is to secure an interview for a new job opportunity. So, instead of putting an objective on your resumeâ€"which takes up valuable space at the top of your documentâ€"use that area to make a short career summary that allows you to hit upon the key words used in the job posting. #2 â€" Don’t include every single job. The hard truth is that NO ONE wants to hear about you flipping burgers in high school or working as a bank teller 25+ years ago. The ONLY time that information is relevant is if you are now applying for a similar position. Otherwise, this information doesn’t pertain to today’s job environment and just dilutes your resume with old information. #3 â€" Be careful with dates. Don’t include dates on your educationâ€"unless you graduated a couple of weeks ago and have zero work history. Otherwise, the date you graduated from high school or college is not relevant. In addition, include the last 10-15 years of job history andâ€"if you feel the need to include older informationâ€"then include it in a section of earlier work history with no dates. Finally, each time you consider adding a section, responsibility, or achievement, think, “Who cares?”   and “Does this matter to THIS job opportunity?” If the answer is that it won’t matter in the long run, then don’t include it. Instead, think of your resume as a clean, concise, and focused document that allows you to highlight your strengths and forgets the rest.