The Fastest Way to Get Your Resume Deleted

I always tell people that the first thing they need to change about their resumes is to take out their Objective statement. These were popular in the pre-online-application dark days when people were out physically dropping off resumes in front offices, whether there were positions open or not. In that case it made sense to have something at the top of your resume that let the hiring manager know what positions you were interested in, should they come available....that way he/she didn't throw your resume into a random pile, such as this:

God bless the internet. Now when I get resumes, they are filed away neatly in an online storage world called an applicant tracking system, and I don't have to wonder what positions you're interested in, because you told me in your online profile.

I do think it's better nowadays to replace the objective statement with a Summary statement, put in the same place on the resume. While I'm okay with this, I'm NOT okay with the crap-words most job seekers are using to fill up their summaries.

Here are my top 10 (or 12) words to take off your resume (immediately):

highly motivated

driven

focused

self-starter

accomplished

extensive

energetic

results-oriented

people person

diverse

strategic

high-level

Just so you know, I got these DIRECTLY from resumes I've been looking at for the last month or so (although they're the same words I've been seeing for years). And it took me about 30 seconds to think them up - that's how top-of-mind they are to me. The thing is, these are all good words, but when they're on 8 out of every 10 professional resumes a recruiter sees, they don't really mean anything anymore. In fact, if I'm being honest, when I see these words on a resume, my gut reaction is to assume the person googled "example resumes" and just copied and pasted some standard stament. Therefore, I'll assume that if you can't even think up your own words to write a resume, how are you going to contribute anything original to this job? DELETED. It's always better to use non-pompous words that fit your personality and your background. If you're a professional, and you're applying for a job that is professional, the things up there in those buzzwords are EXPECTED of you. There's no need for you to re-iterate them.

Examples of summary statements that will not make me hate you:

"New nursing grad eager to begin full-time career in healthcare."

"Marketing professional with 4 years PR, copywriting and graphic design experience."

"10-year tax accountant relocating to the Dallas area in October."

Easy. Short, to the point, tells me who you are and what you want. Now you have my attention.

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts on what's happening in the job market right now! Leave a comment and let the fun begin!