4 Things to Leave off your 2023 Resume

The start of a new year is a typical time for self-reflection and goal-setting. If you’ve identified something career-related as one of your new years’ resolutions, goals, or themes, don’t overlook the importance of having a strategically written and up-to-date resume! Similar to how resume grammar differs from grammar in other forms of writing, there are certain things you don’t have to say in the context of a resume that you would say in different contexts.

Whether you’re starting from scratch or updating your existing resume, here are 4 things that are implied within the context of a resume:

“I did this… I did that…”

Resumes are written in sentence fragments and implied first person, which means we don’t use the pronoun “I.” It would be redundant to start every sentence in your document with “I,” so we leave it off! Your reader will know who achieved each accomplishment because resumes are specifically written to outline the achievements of the person whose name is at the top of the page. Leave off the pronoun and start each line with an impressive action word instead.

Employer names or “the company.”

I do not mean that you do not have to include your employer’s name with your position titles in your work history. That is relevant and important information that you should absolutely include. What I mean is when writing the bullet points in your employment history section, there’s no reason to name the company or write “the company” repeatedly. For example, instead of “Greeted Apple’s [or the company’s] customers and demonstrated product offerings…” you can just say “Greeted customers and demonstrated product offerings...” Your reader will know whose customers you greeted because of the employer/position title heading.

Your accomplishments were successful.

Never start a bullet with “Successfully…” Your reader will know that the project, initiative, action, or accomplishment was a success because it is on a resume; a resume is not the place to write about unsuccessful initiatives. “Successfully collaborated with team members…” holds less value than “Collaborated with team members…”

You were part of a team.

For the vast number of resumes, if you contributed to a team’s success, you can write about the accomplishment in your resume as if it were your own. Your reader knows that employers have numerous employees who collaborate to meet goals. You are not stealing your coworkers’ thunder or attributing credit where credit is not due; you are taking ownership of your contribution. It would be appropriate to differentiate instances where you were solely responsible by saying, “Singlehandedly increased data collection…” or when you were leading the team by saying, “Led a team of 5 welder’s helpers to achieve…”

The main problem with including these types of things in your resume is that they take up space and don’t add value. Click here to contact me and find out how I can help you make every word in your resume count!