Job Application Writing – What not to include in your Resume?

2. Job Application Writing – What not to include in your Resume? • Over my 14 years in business in owning and operating Red Tape Busters I have helped thousands of clients prepare winning job applications and in our job application writing service I see why clients have made mistakes previously through their job search strategies. • If you combine my experience with Red Tape Busters with my 18 years’ experience in senior positions in the Queensland Public Service where I was responsible for recruitment and selection of public servants at all levels of the organisation I have seen many many resumes which really don’t cut the mustard.

3. There are some reoccurring themes which to me are classic errors when preparing your Resume. These include Age :- • Many people include their age in their Resume. • Why? Age is generally immaterial in assessing job applicants and certainly it is discriminatory for an employer to reject an applicant based on age. • However reality is that employers might have some general thoughts about how old they would like the successful candidate to be or how much experience they would like the person to have.

4. Including your age is really giving the recruitment agency or prospective employer an opportunity to decide you are too old or too young for the job or too experienced or not experienced enough. • You want to get an interview – that should be your initial focus and by including your age this is giving the employer an opportunity why they shouldn’t give you an interview. • Job application writing including Resumes needs to focus on highlighting your experience, skills and your suitability for the role – not how old you are!

5. Health:- • smoker/non smoker – again this is immaterial. • There is no reason to include this in your resume. Further who in their right mind is going to say that they have terrible health?

6. Relationship status :- • This is definitely something that should never ever go in a Resume. • Your relationship status is none of their business and therefore don’t include anything about whether you are married or single etc.

7. Interests:- • This is debatable but many people include their interests outside of work in their Resume. • Again to me this is giving the potential employer an opportunity to make judgements about you which might then compromise your chances of getting an interview. • For instance say you state on your Resume that you play a sport – Rugby League – what happens if those on the assessment panel stereotype footballers as muscly boof heads and this “type” of person doesn’t fit their prototype employee?

8. Skills/abilities :- • Again this is debatable but I think it is a total waste of time including statements in your Resume about what skills you have. • Saying you are a great communicator or planner or team player or have great computer skills or can process 50 widgets a minute really are nebulous statements that to me are useless unless you can prove your claims. • For instance if you have a Certificate saying you can type 50 words per minute from a Business Course well then under the Qualifications section in the Resume state you have a Certificate in Business Management and achieved 50 words per minute typing. • If you want to include statements about your core skills and abilities then include them in the duty statements and responsibilities for the relevant jobs you have undertaken in your career and spell them out this way.

9. Career history :- • As a general rule of thumb as an organisation that specialises in job application writing we try and limit our focus on past jobs to 10 years. • So normally we would only go back a maximum of 10 years and list the jobs and relevant roles/duties/responsibilities for those jobs. • Any roles past 10 years can be summed up with a succinct statement stating that say prior to 2004 you undertook a variety of administrative roles in the construction industry for instance. • Keeping your career history to 10 years also keeps them guessing on your age as well! One other consideration is that if you have swapped jobs repeatedly over the past 10 years I would try and limit this fact somehow as employers won’t take kindly to reading about a potential employee who regularly changes jobs.

10. Contact us at Red Tape Busters - http://www.redtapebusters.com/ should you require more information about this article or if you require specialist job application writing or grant and tender writing experience to help your organisation or business win grant funding or achieve successes with tenders. • We are specialists in providing the following services:- • Lobbying. • Tender Writing. • Grant Writing. • Resumes/Job Applications. • Organisational/Business Development.

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