Irrelevant Content in Resume You should Avoid

From my experience I see most of the time we all are making some common mistakes in our resumes which potentially may not harm our applications directly but do not let us present ourselves as competent and unique candidates.

Irrelevant Content in Resume You should Avoid

Individuals may have different opinions, but I will try to summarize a few for the mass audience who are in the initial phase of their career or struggling to make a switch.

CAREER OBJECTIVE STATEMENT

We are all familiar with the statement “looking for opportunities that will allow me to leverage my skills.” It's a vague statement and a waste of space because it doesn't help the hiring managers quickly understand our competencies. Instead of copying and pasting such statements from resume templates, we should either include our career summary or simply answer in short “What am I going to offer?”. In no more than 2-3 lines, we should try to explain why we are a good fit for the position by summarizing relevant qualifications.

EXAMPLE OF WEAK STATEMENT

Want to establish myself in such a position at my workplace where I will be able to do the job with utmost integrity, rationality, and passion and in addition to that be able to show my passion and respect for my work.

EXAMPLE OF STRONG STATEMENT

Highly motivated and a certified process improvement professional with strong sales and communication skills, attention to detail, and a solid experience in people management, looking to obtain a leadership role only in a rapidly growing IT/ITES company.

A Resume is a personal content marketing document that we send to hiring managers, and expect them to go through it and give us a call for an interview. While all the content marketers in the world are providing as less information as possible, we as job seekers weigh our resumes with all our irrelevant information such as Age, DOB, Permanent Address, Internet browsing ability, Training & Certifications that doesn’t matter, etc.

TOPIC 1
COMPUTER SKILLS
Throughout our study period, we had to learn so many things, from C to MATLAB, Engineering Drawing to AutoCAD, and many others for our self-development. While applying for the position of Technical Sales Engineer, supposedly, what message do we expect the hiring manager should receive from our resume? Should we start bombing content nukes that may result in “You are too qualified for the position”? Or should we just pick the ones which are relevant?

EXAMPLE OF WEAK CONTENT
Computer Skills:
Basic Software: MS Office, Windows, Internet Browsing
Programming Language: C/C++, HTML, CSS
Design Skills: Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign
Cloud Platforms: Salesforce, Google Analytics
Others: MATLAB, AutoCAD, SAP2000, SPSS, PSPIES, Facebook, Youtube

EXAMPLE OF GOOD CONTENT
Computer Skills (Advanced Level)
MS Excel, PowerPoint, Salesforce, Illustrator, SPSS, Facebook Ads Manager

TOPIC 2
TRAINING & CERTIFICATIONS
Just like computer skills, we may have gone through several additional courses during our study life or even in the professional field. Whether we are applying as fresher or trying to switch between jobs, only the relevant certifications can add value to our resume.

EXAMPLE OF BAD CONTENT
  1. Day Long Excel Training Session
  2. Basic to Advanced Sales Strategies
  3. PowerPoint Presentation by 10minuteschool
  4. Supply Chain & Logistic Management Insights
  5. Professional Report Writing and Presentation Skills
  6. Emotional Intelligence: Overcoming Fear and Anxiety
  7. Training of Trainers
EXAMPLE OF GOOD CONTENT
  1. Basic to Advanced Sales Strategies
  2. Emotional Intelligence: Overcoming Fear and Anxiety
  3. Training of Trainers
N.B. The above-mentioned skills and certifications MIGHT BE relevant for the exemplary position of Sales Engineer. The contents of the resume will vary depending on the role and should be relevant to the job requirements.
Having many skills is an advantage, showcasing relevant skills is wisdom.

Written by - 
Saad Salman,
Engineer.

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