9 Things to Remove from Your Resume ASAP

Maddie Lloyd
by Maddie Lloyd
Get The Job, Guides - 2 years ago

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When you’re applying for jobs, you’re probably focused on putting all of the right things on your resume: your work history, your professional skills, and anything else you can conjure up that will make you stand out as the best person for the job.

But here’s the kicker:

While you’re spending so much time trying to put all of the right things on your resume, you could be letting a few things that aren’t so great.

There are some details that just don’t belong on your resume, and they could even cost you a potential job interview — and we don’t want that to happen. So how are you supposed to know what to leave off of your resume? Lucky for you, we’ve got that all figured out.

Here’s everything to leave off your resume so you can land an interview and get the job:

1. A resume objective

Honestly, your resume objective is just redundant and a waste of space. Everyone and their mother is going to claim that they’re a hard-working individual seeking a challenging position. Do yourself a favor and just scrap it.

What you can do instead: Instead of just talking about how great you are, use your resume to showcase the skills and experiences that the specific employer is looking for.

Hiring managers spend approximately six seconds looking at a resume before they decide if it’s garbage, so make sure to focus yours on your specific qualifications.

2. An email address from your current employer, or one that’s just unprofessional

Nothing says “I waste company time to do my own personal job searching,” quite like using your employer email address on your resume. And using your high school email address 420blazeit69@hotmail.com pretty much sends the message that you’re immature and unprofessional.

What you can do instead: Use your professional, personal email address on your resume and when applying for jobs. Make sure to include some variation of your first and last name, and use a common platform like Gmail, i.e. hankhill@gmail.com.

3. Off-putting or polarizing hobbies and interests

If you’re the president of your community gun club, the leader of your local Satanist congregation, or if you just spend a significant amount of time writing Lord of the Rings fan-fiction erotica, well, that’s just great — but leave it off your resume. Employers will likely think you’re a weirdo and throw your resume in the trash.

What you can do instead: Only include interests and hobbies if they relate to the position or make you seem like a stronger candidate. If you’re a physical trainer who regularly runs marathons, go ahead and include that on your resume. But if you’re a teacher who has a high-profile blog about your conspiracy theories, there’s no need to let an employer know about that.

4. Irrelevant and outdated work experiences

If you’re applying for a position at a law firm, there’s really no good reason to include your high school job working at McDonald’s in your work experience. Your resume isn’t meant to detail your entire life’s history, it’s meant to showcase why you’re the best and most qualified person for the job.

What you can do instead: Only list work and volunteer experiences that relate to the job you’re applying for. Instead of focusing on all of your menial daily tasks, focus on your achievements and overall projects you worked on.

Employers care much more about these details than the fact that you worked at Burger King for two years in high school.

5. Big fancy words that only serve to make you look smart

Using terms like “utilize,” “analogous,” “synergy,” and other resume buzzwords don’t make you look any smarter or more qualified for the job, they just make you look like someone who owns a thesaurus. Using these big words also distracts from the important details of your resume.

What you can do instead: If you wouldn’t use any of the words on your resume in a real life conversation, just get rid of them or change them. Your resume should be focused on making you look qualified for the job, not like someone who’s memorized a dictionary.

6. Weird or “creative” formatting

Sorry to break it to you, but using a creative resume isn’t going to get you any more jobs than a traditional one. In fact, it’s probably going to get you less. Everyone wants their resume to stand out, but using colors and weird formatting isn’t the best way to get yours noticed.

What you can do instead: Use a classic serif font like Arial or Times New Roman instead of the fun and quirky fonts like Comic Sans and Papyrus. Stick to a solid layout, and be consistent with your formatting. For example, if you put period at the end of your bullet points, make sure every bullet point ends with a period.

If you’re applying for a creative position and it’s imperative that an employer knows just how left-brained you are, they’ll be looking for it in your portfolio, not your resume. Make sure your resume is neat and tidy, not colorful and chaotic.

7. References to yourself in the third person

Yikes. This is just a foolproof way to make yourself look like a pretentious arrogant jerk. Referring to yourself in the third person with sentences like “Mark edited and proofed the university newspaper,” makes you sound like that one dude at the party who spends the whole night talking about how great he is. Cut it out, Mark.

What you can do instead: Put your name and contact information at the top your resume in a resume header. Then the employer will surely know who they’re reading about. Write your resume in the first person, but leave out pronouns and don’t refer to yourself by name.

8. Excessive details about college


A lot of recent graduates will list their greek life affiliations or club sports in the hopes that a hiring manager will have some sort of association. Excessive information about college is just a waste of space. And, honestly, no one cares. Sorry.

What you can do instead: Use your education section to show off your internships or any experiences related to the job. You may have been the reigning beer pong champ of your sorority, but really, no one cares.

9. Lies

This one should be obvious. Don’t make up phony past experiences or accomplishments. Employers can easily find the truth with a Google search or a phone call. Plus, even if you do get the job, you won’t be able to deliver on those skills you claimed to have. And that’s just embarrassing.

What you can do instead: If you don’t have all of the qualifications listed in the job description, talk about what you can offer instead of making stuff up.

Even if you’re light on a few of the needed skills, that doesn’t mean you’ll be automatically rejected. A lot of employers are willing to train people when they come onboard, so save yourself the trouble of getting caught and just be honest.

Now you’re ready to write your resume!

Writing a resume can be a lot of work. You have to worry about small details like your margins, a resume header, and including all of the right information that lets hiring managers know that you’re the one.

Your resume needs to be laser focused on showing that you’re the best person for the job. Be objective, be honest, and don’t include irrelevant information. If you can follow these tips, the job is yours!

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