What not to say

What not to say in your resume

Most people who are looking to hire, just skim through a resume, often quickly reading through the page. It is in your interest to make it brief, relevant to the job you applied for and focussed on your skills more than your hobbies. Word your resume right with a focus on your accomplishments, experience and skills rather than what duties you performed. Take care to be precise about your dates, as well as the time frame that you spent at each facility and do a spell check before sending it off. Limit your resume to just one page. Below are a few pointers that will help you.

Don’t be too creative
You may be applying for a creative job as a writer but try not to floor your prospective employer with a display of words, a fancy design or a long drawn out essay. Stay focused on your assets, accomplishments and what you can bring to the table. And don’t put your photo out unless you are applying for a post of an actor or a model.

Don’t give too much information
You may inadvertently open yourself to some questions that you may prefer not to answer. Try and keep the reason for your job change to better prospects without getting into details on company policy or any other skirmish you may have experienced. Don’t give out your salary information either or make too many general statements like, “I am a hard worker”. Also no one is going to be interested in the summer job you had a decade ago.

Being precise
Put out information on your skills, contact details, full address in a concise and clear manner. Check punctuation, spellings and avoid mentioning that you will get reference letters if required from your earlier mentors.