18 Things to Leave Off Your Resume in 2023

As a job seeker, keeping your resume concise, professional, and relevant is important. Avoid an objective statement and include a brief summary of your qualifications and the role you're seeking. Personal information should only include your name, phone number, and email address. Tailor your work experience to the specific job you're applying for and highlight your accomplishments rather than tasks and duties. Avoid corporate jargon and overused words. Use bullet points, short sentences, and a human voice. Only include industry-specific terms if they're relevant. Leave off hobbies, interests, salary history, college GPA, and a list of references.

1. An objective statement
   • Instead, include a brief summary of your qualifications and the type of role you're seeking at the top of your resume.
2. A photo of yourself
   • Unless the job specifically requests it, a photo is not necessary and can take up valuable space on your resume.
3. Irrelevant work experience
   • Tailor your resume to the specific job you're applying for and leave out any irrelevant work experience.
4. Personal information
   • Only include your name, security clearance level, phone number, and email address, as your age, marital status, home address, or other personal information is irrelevant to your job qualifications.
5. Non-technical skills
   • Include them only if they are relevant to the job 
6. Lengthy paragraphs
   • Keep your resume easy to read by using bullet points and short, concise sentences.
7. List of tasks and duties
   • Instead, focus on your accomplishments and how they contributed to the success of the company.
8. More than three bullet points
   • Keep it concise and to the point. Highlight your most important accomplishments and impacts.
9. Common Military acronyms
   • Include acronyms that could be used for job positions, but not common military-only ones like AAR (After Action Report), etc.
     • (to further help you with your transition, see our Top 20 Tips for Transitioning Military Veterans)
10. Industry-specific terms
    • Only include them if they're relevant to the job you're applying for, as unfamiliar terms can be off-putting to recruiters.
11. Overused words
    • Avoid using words like "hardworking" or "team player" that are overused and don't provide any specific information about your qualifications.
12. Social media links
    • Unless it is directly related to the job, including links to your social media profiles is not recommended.
13. Salary
    • It is not necessary to include your salary history or requirements on your resume.
    • See our Mastering Salary Negotiation Tips and Strategies to help you get the best pay you can get
14. Hobbies and interests
    • While they can add some personality to your resume, they're not necessary and can take up valuable space that could be used to showcase your qualifications.
15. Multiple font types
    • Stick to one font for a clean and professional look, unless you're showcasing your design skills.
16. Horizontal lines
    • They're unnecessary, can make your resume look cluttered, and could impact text parsing applicant tracking systems.
17. Your college GPA
    • Unless you graduated recently, your GPA is not as important as your experience.
18. A list of references
    • Save them for later in the hiring process, only share them once there's mutual interest.