A resume serves as a reflection of who you are: it contains your education, your illustrious work experience, various ways to contact you… But then, a resume should never really reflect who you are. We’re talking about the personal details – the little things that make you the fabulous person you are today, but that should really have no bearing on landing a job.
So whether you’re just starting to apply to jobs for the first time, or are a seasoned job search veteran, here’s a refresher course on things that you should never include on your resume:
Religion
If you’re not applying to a job at a religious institution, keep your views off the page. It’s irrelevant to the job, and hiring managers are not allowed to take it under consideration anyway, so there’s really no place for it. If you volunteer at a religious organization and you consider this experience especially relevant to the job you’re applying to, you can mention it briefly. However, if you must include it, keep the organization anonymous and focus on your role instead. For example:
Volunteer Instructor – once a week, taught a classroom of thirty children, ages 10-12.
Also, keep in mind that anything you mention in the resume is likely to come up during the interview, so include this information at your own risk.
Politics
Again, if you’re not going into politics, leave it off. These sorts of matters are controversial in the first place, are irrelevant, and if anything, just take up valuable space. Like with religion, if you consider your political experience extra valuable and relevant to a particular job – and just can’t bear to take it off the resume – avoid mentioning the organization name, and be prepared to discuss further during an interview.
Sexual Orientation
Sexual preference may be a key component to who you are, but it has nothing to do with how well you can perform on the job. More than this, even though discrimination in the workplace is illegal, it still exists in some places, so don’t take your chances.
Age
Though you may be the perfect fit for the position, ageism in the workplace certainly exists, and you may be eliminated from the pool prematurely if you are perceived as being too old or too young. If age is an issue, be cautious with including specific dates on your resume as well (most hiring managers can do the math). So if your 30-year college reunion is around the corner, you might want to keep that graduation date to yourself and also leave off some of your early, less relevant experience.
Health and Disabilities
The law protects persons with health issues or disabilities, but again, you should leave this information off of your resume. It’s irrelevant and opportunity for discrimination exists.
Criminal Record
The general rule with a criminal record is to be upfront and honest with a hiring manager, but the resume is not the place for this. Wait until the interview to bring this up.
While you want to give the hiring manager a good idea of who you are, there’s definitely a point where you can become too personal in what you decide to disclose. Always aim to flaunt how great you are on your resume – just be a bit discerning while you do it.
