.png "What NOT to Put on Your Resume")
July 17, 2024
Newsletter ArticleYou’re riding the bus home from class one day, scanning through the AgCareers.com app, and you see your dream job opened up. Time to open up your old resume and add in everything you’ve been up to since the last time you applied to your summer role a few years ago right? Not necessarily so: many job seekers get in to the habit of adding and adding to a resume without considering what shouldn’t be there. Less is sometimes more. Let’s take a look at a few things that may be taking up space on your resume, but not necessarily helping to sell you to your future employer.
Formatting: Unless you are applying for a graphic design job; keep the fonts, colours, boarders, and lines to a minimum. Keep it clean and simple, yet have an element that makes your resume memorable. 3 years ago we received many applications for an internship role. I can still picture one of the resumes, along with and her name and details. It’s all because she has one appealing accent colour that made it stand out from the others.
A Picture: If you’re on AgCareers.com you’re probably not applying for a modeling job so don’t include a picture of yourself. You have one page to highlight your skills and experiences, use it wisely.
Editing by your thesaurus: Spelling, grammar, and sentence structure are all key – what’s not is replacing every other word with your computer’s suggestions; especially if those words are not part of your everyday vocabulary. If you get an interview and there is a discrepancy between your written and spoken vocabulary your interviewer will notice and be wary.
Unprofessional contact information: I’m talking about that email address you came up with in grade 6 and you thought it was super cool. Nicknames, party references, anything kitten related…you know what I mean. It’s time to create a more mature email address that can carry you through your career.
Irrelevant job history or experience: If the only prior job you’ve ever had happened to be at McDonalds it’s probably best to include it on your resume, but think of the experience you had there and how it will fit in with the job you’re applying for. Did you win a customer service certificate? Did you have a high percentage of upsells at the drive thru window? Maybe you helped with scheduling or did inventory checks when your manager was on vacation. Consider what your past and future jobs had in common and highlight those skill and accomplishments.
Social Media links: LinkedIn can be a great tool for employers to find out more about you if you have a profile. For the other venues like Twitter Facebook and Instagram –unless you have created and nurtured an account to reflect your love and passion for agriculture or your related industry don’t include it in your resume. Actually, if you are entering the job market, go through each social media account you have and carefully consider what is visible to the public. Google yourself and see what comes up. Don’t be caught in an interview wondering if they have seen your party pictures from Mexico last summer.
Good luck in your job applications! When you’re ready, create an AgCareers.com job seeker account and upload your resume to the AgCareers.com resume database.
