5 Things to leave off your resume
(and why it doesn’t count as lying)
Writing the perfect resume is a daunting task, even for the best qualified applicants.
While we spend a lot of time trying to decide what we should include (and how to get it all into that magic one-page format), there are also things that are perhaps best left out.
This is especially true for job seekers that have limited experience.
While it may be tempting to fill your resume up with additional details — if only to make it look like you have more than a few lines to say about yourself — sometimes it’s best to check out a larger font size and more blank space (which increases readability) rather than to turn the employer away with superfluous information.
Here are some of the things to look out for– and stay away from– when writing your resume:
1. The words ‘intern’ and ‘volunteer’
Many young graduates make the mistake of creating a special ‘internship’ or ‘volunteering’ section on their resume. This might make a lot of sense for someone who is trying to make a point about being dedicated to a particular cause. But for many of us, that unpaid law firm internship was much better aligned with our long-term career goals than that minimum wage job at McDonald’s.
So here’s the secret: just make a ‘professional experience’ section where you can list both paid and unpaid work experiences. Then, feel free to leave out the words ‘intern’ and ‘volunteer’ altogether.
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