Too Much Information

When you're writing your resume (in your pajamas, not your best Brooks Brothers suit, I might add), it's important to know what needs to be on there and what shouldn't. Over at USnews.com, HR blogger Ask a Manager has a great blog post titled 7 Things to Leave Off Your Resume that's very much worth a read.

Some of these are widely known -- for example, it's not common practice in America to include a picture of yourself unless it's for something like an acting or modeling gig. Also, it's widely agreed that a third page is a bad idea outside of very specific situtations. But a few of these are actually things many people do, such as including objective statements (seriously -- your objective is to get a job, hello?) and including proficiencies that are obvious or extremely common in 2009 (like being able to use Word). Not everyone will agree with all of the advice -- I've worked with some recruiters that wanted me to list every single individual software program I knew, for example -- but it's all at least worth considering.

Check it out and see what you think. Plus, check out the author's main blog as well. Which reminds me, I need to update the blogroll...