In the past, most resumes were prepared with a fairly large personal information section in the lead-off resume position. This section often included a good deal of worthless and even harmful information about an applicant along with a personal photograph. Such a section might have consisted of the following elements:
- Age
- Race
- Number of dependents
- Height, marital status
- Ancestry
- Weight
- Religion
- Political leanings
- Health
- Birthplace
- Sex
- Citizenship, etc.
- Potential results of a background check
- Irrelevant personal interests
In a job market oversupplied by well-qualified applicants, employment representatives can often interview only a relatively small number and thus are forced to screen out a large number of applicants using the resume and application letter. This screening process makes it imperative for the applicant to put her best foot forward early in the resume, presenting the most powerful job and educational credentials possible to impress readers and to assure a positive first impression and reception.
In the past, many very capable applicants were refused job interviews because they possessed personal characteristics that were not appealing to employment representatives. Such job-discrimination practices have led to government legislation prohibiting discrimination in hiring based on non-job-related personal traits. These laws prohibit firms from requiring applicants to provide information not related to actual job effectiveness. In general, firms have complied with such laws and have been very careful to avoid asking questions about such non-job-related matters on company application blanks or during job interviews.
Though companies are not allowed to solicit certain personal information, job applicants must be on guard not to volunteer such information that could possibly be used for discriminatory purposes. It is human nature to favor people with traits you like and to show disfavor to people with traits you dislike. Showing a personal preference in job selection to one candidate over another because of some non-job-related trait is against the law. Yet it is unfortunate but true that in some cases "subconscious screening" might influence negative decisions because certain non-job-related information has been freely volunteered by unaware applicants.
Smart job seekers must be as aware of the possibility of subconscious favoritism as they are of government legislation that prohibits conscious discrimination in hiring. In summary, the smart job seeker does not have to provide non-job-related personal information on application blanks and in interviews with firms.
Furthermore, personal information of a questionable nature should not be conveyed voluntarily through resumes or letters.
Most resumes do provide minimum personal characteristics, such as weight, height, health, and marital status, for two reasons: (1) employment representatives may simply expect to read a little about your personal traits, and (2) personal characteristics do help to provide a visual sense of the applicant. When any of these points are considered questionable by you, however, be sure to exclude them from your materials.
Several of the resumes usually have contact addresses and telephone numbers typed directly below the resume titles, with short personal sections typed near the bottom of the resume; other resumes have the contact information together with the other personal information near the bottom. Either technique is acceptable. It is important to include, if at all possible, a telephone number where the company representative may call you. Sometimes an eager employment representative may want to contact you quickly to get you in for an interview after reading your resume. Thus, time could be of the essence. If she cannot contact you quickly, you may lose the.
Although you realize that your address and possibly your telephone number will appear on the application letter, be certain to also include both on your resume. The resume must be able to stand alone as an independent sales presentation and reference sheet. For if the letter somehow becomes separated and is lost in processing or filing, the employment representative should still be able to get all necessary contact information from the job resume.
Do not use a personal photograph in your job resume. This suggestion applies to most instances, except in special cases of applications for photographic or acting positions where certain physical attributes are required and photos are requested before an interview. Initial favorable impression is more assured by the neatness, balance, and attractive organization of your resume information than by a personal photograph that can produce all types of unfavorable subjective reactions.
The prevailing feeling today is that photographs generally do more to harm than to help an applicant's chances. In fact, many job facilitators, as a matter of routine, remove photographs that are attached to received resumes before passing the resumes on to company representatives for consideration.
The actual impressions formed by viewing photographs are frequently different from the impressions intended by job seekers. Quite often there are as many different reactions to a photograph on a resume as there are readers. Simply, too many unpredictable factors of a personal and subjective nature are brought to play by a photograph, which might help to ''screen out" rather than ''screen in" a qualified candidate.
An important objective of the job resume is to help get a job interview. Once an employment representative is sufficiently impressed with the contents and the packaging of a job resume, he will then want to meet, see, and speak to the applicant in person. Disclosing one's physical appearance prematurely in the resume to impress readers can actually produce the unintended result of reducing reader desire to "see" an applicant again.
