I’ve helped people land jobs at Google, Facebook and Uber—here are 5 things I never want to see on your resume
By | Jermaine L. Murray | www.cnbc.com
In my six years of recruiting experience, I have placed candidates at major companies like Google, Facebook and Microsoft. But I didn’t always know what a good resume looked like.
In 2013, after struggling to find work after college, I decided to hire a resume writer. It didn’t turn out as planned: $650 later, I had a six-page resume for less than two years of experience.
The turning point came when I walked into a local sports station with my new resume in hand, and the receptionist bluntly asked me: “Would you want to read a six-page resume on top of everything else you had to do?”
That night, I went home and reworked everything myself. It was so consistent in landing me interviews that my friends asked me to write their resumes. When they all got jobs, my consulting service, Jupiter HR, was born.
One of the most common questions I get asked by clients is what I never want to see on a resume. Here’s what I tell them:
1. A personal summary
These are a waste of valuable resume real estate and usually contain information recruiters would find reading other parts of your resume or your cover letter.
Recruiters and hiring managers tend to skim or speed-read resumes. This means that the first half of your resume has a much bigger role in making a first impression than your second half, and you want your most important and impressive qualifications up top.
Instead of including a personal summary, use the top space to jump right into your experience or a list of your skills and certifications.
