3 Things to Remove From Your Resume "ASAP as Possible"

Apr 19, 2019 | Resumes

An eraser, which you should (hypothetically) use to get rid of these 3 things to remove from your resume

Read up on these 3 things to remove from your resume, and watch those interview requests start flying in.

By: Daniel Lorenzo | Blog Manager at Let’s Eat, Grandma

Alright, job-seekers. Here’s the deal.

You’re fantastic! I know just as well as you do that you’re extremely talented, experienced enough to land your next job, and smart enough to prove it in an interview.

But unfortunately, the hiring process is a tricky game, and we need to get into some annoying technicalities if we want to appease the hiring Gods.

Regardless of the person, little tiny details can make or break a resume. And with the average hiring manager spending around 6 seconds on every resume, we each need all the bonus points we get.

Thankfully, Let’s Eat, Grandma founder and Certified Personal Resume Writer Chris Villanueva is (literally) an expert, and stays on top of all of the latest resume best practices.

So, here are 3 quick, itty-bitty things he says you should remove from your resume (in the words of world-renowned business guru, Michael Scott) “ASAP as possible.”

1. OBJECTIVE STATEMENT

Most career experts today agree that the objective statement is outdated...

Memebase

Thank GOD. If you’re like me, you’ve always felt that writing an objective statement is one of the most difficult – and dumb – parts of applying for a job.

I mean, my objective is to make money! Duh!

Attempts to say anything else in there always come out clunky and awkward. Ultimately, it’s just kissing up and wasting space on your 8.5 x 11″-sized golden ticket to a fulfilling job.

But what if I’m not kissing up, and I really do have a beautiful reason for applying to this company?

BOOM. Prime cover letter material. Remove from your resume.

2. CURRENT PHYSICAL ADDRESS 

An image of Daniel's fake, but admittedly fancy, resume letterhead, which lists, among other things, his address as "123 Fake Street, WhoCares City." Real or not, an address is one thing to certainly remove from your resume.
This one’s actually kind of a bummer. Having a full letterhead like this has always made me feel so ~fancy~.

Next, your address is another prime space-waster to remove from your resume for two reasons.

  1. It’s obsolete. Really, the only reason for including an address on a resume goes back to the days before email was commonplace. It used to be a valid way of communicating to an applicant that they got the job, but nowadays, there are a billion easier ways to reach you.
  2. It can actually be unsafe. In fact, your physical address is now kind of the opposite of a good way to reach you. If you’re submitting your resume online and, God forbid, a hacker finds your resume, a physical address is sensitive data they could then use to still your identity… :O

Oh sure Daniel, what next? Are you gonna tell us not to trust Wikipedia?

No, trust me, I’m not just paranoid!

Listen to Chris recount some horror stories on his Career Warrior podcast Episode #34 to convince you this is something else to remove from your resume.

3. REFERENCES

The final thing to quickly remove from your resume right now is your references. And don’t even think about saying, “References available upon request.”

Well, yeah, of course they are! They better be!

This is a tricky one, because “available upon request” sounds like a really professional thing to say, and it’s easy to think “yeah, might as well add a little extra professionalism!”

However, it’s unnecessary, because 9 times out of 10 the company’s going to ask for references separately anyway. And additionally, it’s actually kind of vague. Imagine if the rest of your resume looked like this:

A screen shot of a mock resume Daniel created. Writing "references available upon request" is the equivalent of writing, as this image shows, "Professional Experience: I'll explain in the interview."

That’s basically what you’re saying with “references available upon request.” Writing them out would certainly be better than this.

However, because it’s not entirely necessary (unless you want to hammer home that you worked with someone really important), any kind of references section is still something you should remove from your resume.

It’s not completely necessary, so therefore it’s taking up that sweet, sweet coveted white space, which you can use to add more experience or keywords to get your butt in an interview chair.

FIX IT REAL QUICK

These 3 lil’ things will take about 10 seconds to remove from your resume, and it’ll be so worth it.

So pull it up, scratch these out, and start focusing your brain power on the meat of your resume, like your experience and skills. We know those parts are harder, but that’s why we’re here to help.

Sign up now for a FREE phone consultation with one of our resume experts on our website!

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