You kill more trees using more paper while printing your resume, and you help to further heat the planet by consuming additional kilobytes when circulating electronically. Therefore, keeping your CV short not only earns it the attention of potential employers, it also makes you environmentally responsible.
Employers want applicants to learn how to produce more efficient resumes. An efficient resume is the one that consumes the least amount of time for a potential employer to decide to call you for an interview. Avoid including unnecessary information on your resume and focus on what employers are really looking for. Below is a list of information that people include on their resume that might not be relevant to employers:
1. The title
If someone shows you a photo of a car, you know it is a car. It is not necessary to write the word “car” on the car for people to recognize it. The same applies to your CV, so why does it consume half a page to display the two-letter “CV” in one gigantic font?
2. Objective
Most people use similar sets of goals on their resume. Usually he says: “I would like to join an organization that allows me to use my education, experience and skills …”. Does that sound like the mission statement you are using on your resume? Well let me tell you something, employers are less concerned with your personal goals and more concerned with what you can offer.
3. Irrelevant details
For example, the expiration date on your driver’s license is useless unless you are applying for a driver job. Similarly, your weight is your problem, so please do not include it as part of your personal data unless the job you are applying for requires certain physical characteristics and attributes. I still receive hundreds of resumes containing “Military Status” from the candidate!
4. Training and short courses
The short trainings and courses you attend generally do not excite serious employers or add value to their market. However, if you obtained an accredited or recognized certification from these trainings and courses, you should surely include them. The same applies to courses taken in college if you graduated more than a decade ago.
5. Basic computer skills
Your knowledge and ability to use PowerPoint © or Microsoft Word or post photos on Instagram cannot be considered part of your “Computer Skills”. Therefore, unless you are a Java, Python, C ++, Ardiuno, or Ruby programmer, a WordPress or Joomla website builder, or have some technical knowledge or computer experience that is relevant to published work, just skip this section.
6. Repetitive qualities
Job seekers generally mention in their resumes that they can work under severe pressure, actively work in a team, adore new challenges, be willing to acquire new skills, and learn new things. Many of them also say that they are motivated and enterprising. In fact, these are great qualities that make you as unique as 8 billion other people who live on this planet. Focus on telling the employer what makes you unique.
7. Common hobbies
Keywords found on over 80% of resumes include: avid internet user, likes to travel, regular reader of articles on concurrent financial issues, and of course, enjoying swimming. It may surprise you to learn that not even 1% of employers read or care about what you have listed as your hobbies.
8. Reference
Lastly, you need to understand the “Referral” part and its magnitude in the hiring process. Interested employers will certainly look for a reference before bidding. However, employers will rarely use any of the references you listed on your CV and instead verify you through their own references.
The purpose of this article is not to poke fun at poor producers. Some of these poorly written resumes that land on our job board are from executives with more than 20 years of experience. Worse still, some of them are filling or seeking high-level HR positions. Don’t include every section you find in ready-to-use CV writing templates. These templates are not written in stones. You can design your own CV template how British judges can rule without the wig and gown!