The Resume Mistake That Will Put You in the Reject Pile

“If you see a picture, it means there is no stack,” says Haller, who has more than 30 years of experience in the recruitment and staffing industry.

She says including a headshot on your CV invites ageism, makes snap judgments based on appearance, and suggests “this person is out of touch with the way we do things today.”

Recruiters are critical of anything that seems outdated, and certain details can introduce bias into the hiring process, Haller says. Here are other details to omit from your resume, according to Haller:

• the goal: Haller says including an objective on a resume is a waste of space when recruiters look at your document for about 6 seconds or less. The purpose of your resume should be clear—to present your qualifications for a particular job—so you can save that point for your cover letter.
• Street address: Haller says including your specific home address and zip code could lead to discrimination if there are socioeconomic differences by neighborhood. Additionally, if you don’t live where the business is located, a hiring manager could deprioritize you as a candidate knowing that you need to relocate. Instead, just include your city and state. And if you’re open to remote roles, you might notice that in your location, too, Haller adds.
• AOL Email Address: It’s been years since the AOL email domain was created. fell from favorso using it can make it seem like you’re not tech-savvy. Haller says: Choose a free Gmail account instead.

Another tip about resumes: the simpler, the better.

Haller says you shouldn’t add creativity if it comes at the expense of readability. Keep your text in a single column with clear sections and short bullet points, which is better for both human readers and teams that leverage AI readers.

Recent graduates who have no professional experience in their field can lead their own education department at the top.

Once you’ve spent a year or two in the field, place your professional experience section first, listed in reverse chronological order of your jobs. Next, each section should list your accomplishments and tasks in order of what is most relevant to the job you are applying for.

Keep a separate skills section to list all the technical skills and certifications you possess – again, it may be helpful to rank them by what is most important in the new role you are taking on.

Stick to a one-page resume if you’re early in your career in your 20s, Haller says, adding that one or two pages will be appropriate for most people throughout their entire career.

Regular workers with more than 20 years of experience can probably commit to listing their highlights of the past decade, Haller says. “No one hires someone for what they did 20 years ago. That may be part of your story and there are no dates, and it may be important to CEOs,” but in general, you can tweak some of those choices.

Meanwhile, executive group leaders may extend their resume to three or four pages.

Finally, recruiters often recommend tailoring your resume to each job you apply for. Haller agrees, but with one caveat: “Everyone should have a good, solid, compelling resume that you use 90 percent of the time.” For the other 10 percent, you can rearrange the key points under your experience to fit the needs of the role you’re applying for.

Haller says it won’t take more than a few minutes.

Every job seeker should have a “compelling personality model that you can tweak, but it shouldn’t require a lot of tweaking,” she says.

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