Five things jobseekers should never include in their resumes

The average employer spends only six seconds on a resume.

Resume-writing is always a wholesome experience. It’s an opportunity to showcase your professional objectives and achievements to recruiters.

A professionally written resume boosts a candidate’s potential of getting a job by 7 percent, according to a study. At the same time, HR leaders highlight that a resume containing unnecessary details ends up in the bin.

Experts list five major elements that candidates must avoid while preparing their resumes.

Don’t list just the JD

The average employer spends only six seconds on a resume. A jobseeker needs to create a “six-second resume” – one that can be quickly looked at and makes a candidate’s special qualities shine through instantaneously, said Saumitra Chand, a career expert at job portal Indeed India.

“Most people, when they describe their work experience, will tend to simply list the job description (JD) and share day-to-day duties instead of accomplishments or if they do share accomplishments, they’ll do so without a lot of regard to impact,” he said.

Chand said candidates must make sure they position themselves actively and show the importance of their work. They should start every single bullet point with a strong action verb such as “drove,” “acquired” or “developed.” Candidates need to convey that they did something for the company and weren’t just working on passive tasks that were assigned to them.

No unprofessional credentials

Keshav Jindal, head of HR at influencer management agency WhizCo, said many jobseekers believe the more, the merrier. However, that’s not always the case.

Hiring managers need clear and concise information about candidates so that it’s easy to evaluate them without going through too much information.

“For starters, it is less relevant to add an objective or introduction section to your resume as it makes no sense,” Jindal said, explaining, “We already know that you’re applying for a job, which is why we have your resume.”

Adding an unprofessional email like rahul8484849@gmail.com, multiple mobile numbers or emails, and a complete address will not leave a good impression.

“Recruiters do like a CV that is pleasant to the eye, but what we’re looking for is professionalism and who you are,” Jindal added.

Dump irrelevant courses

A common mistake candidates make is to mention a bunch of irrelevant courses and internships in their profiles, especially when they are freshers.

“These courses are just theoretical classes or normal internships that do not provide any first-hand practical experience,” said Alifiya Johar, HR head of interior designing firm MakeMyHouse.

She said these pointers do not have any relevance to the job – they only serve to show off or brag, which creates a negative impact.

Johar said companies don’t want glitz and glamour but simplicity and accomplishments.

“When an interviewee provides unnecessary information in their resumes/CVs, it represents the person as disorganised, inexperienced and insecure.”

Too much data

Experts say recruiters cannot process too much data and they red-line the necessary information and then decide whether to further connect with a candidate.

They look for companies and industries in a candidate’s career chronology, with relevant and critical information like projects executed, accomplishments, figures and specific education.

“Too much data in a resume could land you on a waiting or rejected list,” said Kushhagr Agarrwal, founder of staffing firm KNR Management Consultants.

Ajit Yadwadkar, VP and head of HR at LoanTap Financial Technologies, said candidates should avoid making their CVs verbose.

In such cases, Yadwadkar said, recruiters are not able to get a clear reference frame of the candidate and find it difficult to understand the role-candidate fit. Consequently, such CVs are ignored or kept on hold due to lack of clarity.

Avoid self-praise

Jobseekers should leave the evaluation of their behaviour and aptitude to the experts. These qualities are assessed later, during the interview process.

The use of adjectives like ‘seasoned professional,’ ‘accomplished underwriter’ or ‘tech evangelist’ come across as self-praise and can sometimes do more harm than good, said Ankur Sharma, HR head of Aye Finance.

“Resumes that capture only the job description without any focus on credentials of the applicant or the impact made by them in their jobs are not the resumes that get the right calls,” he said.