With a synopsis you need to convey the storyline, who your
main characters are, their conflict and how it's resolved, and the emotion that
fits into the story—providing an editor with the feel of your story as well as
the events that take place. And the catch that makes it a daunting task? Trying
to fit all that into the very limited number of pages as set forth by the
publisher without it reading like an impersonal listing of items.
A similar problem exists when putting together a resume.
I've heard it said that a resume should never be more than one page long,
therefore brevity is a must. But on the other hand, you need to provide a
prospective employer with a clear picture of your qualifications and
experience.
So, what do you put in and what do you leave out?
I recently came across a list of 5 things you should never put on your resume which
I'd like to share with you.
Your Age:
People doing the hiring need to
know what you can bring to the company rather than how many years you've been alive.
I think it's actually illegal in the U.S. for a prospective employer to ask the
age of anyone 18 years of age up to the retirement age. And along with listing
your specific age goes the following no-no items:
Listing
professional experience more than 15 years old.
Providing
an exact number of years of professional experience in your opening summary. For
example: 'senior accountant with more than 25 years of experience in...' According to experts, this type of data
invites age discrimination. And don't forget that age bias goes both ways—a
resume that says you are too young for the job isn't to your advantage, either.
Listing Tasks or Duties
Without Results:
Your resume needs to go beyond listing
the jobs you've done: It must convey what you've accomplished on those jobs.
Many applicants miss this key distinction. Saying you reorganized the filing
system conveys the task but that's all. But saying that you increased office
productivity 20% by reorganizing the filing system conveys both the task an
positive results.
Explanations of Anything
Negative
A resume needs to present a
positive picture of the person applying for a job. If there's something
negative that needs explaining, do it in person at your interview rather than
in your resume.
A List of Every Job You've Ever
Held
Prospective employers don't want
to know about that summer you had—unless you're applying for a job where that
specific experience is relevant. List the work you've done in the past 10 to 15
years that tells an employer you're a skilled, reliable fit for the job.
However (tricky line here), employers don't want to see gaps in your employment
history so you need to account for that time.
Personal Details
Employers usually don't care
about your marital status, race, sexual orientation or hobbies, unless they are
somehow relevant to the job. Including personal data is a novice mistake. Your
resume is just the first step in securing a job. At this phase of the process,
those personal details aren't necessary. Today's job seeker usually sends a
resume via email and that means there's no way to know exactly who or how
many people will see it. With identity theft becoming a larger and larger
problem, you need to protect your personal information from anonymous eyes.
And here's a few more quick tips:
Make sure your resume is free of typos,
grammar goofs and factual errors (like getting a company's name wrong).
Don't list your salary history
unless the employer demands it.
Don't worry about providing
references on your resume. You can do that in a separate document.
