Resume crimes

I have seen some funny things creeping onto resumes of late that I am sure is not helping the candidates concerned.

For instance, a young woman with a work history spanning five years listed her parents by name and included their occupations. Father: Joe Smith, Engineer. Mother: Betty Smith, housewife.

When I emailed her about this she was really surprised that I thought it a jarring and unnecessary detail. I can’t think of an instance where it would be appropriate to include your parents on your resume so it warrants no further discussion.

The other one I have seen is men who list their marital and parental status, even when that reads: Divorced, three children.

Why? It is possible that men believe a family-friendly guy ““ even a divorced one ““ is more appealing than a single, childless man. However, I have seen no evidence of this.

Actually, it was a married father and a friend of mine who first drew my attention to this strange practise. He was hiring for a sales team and reported that it was a real turn off.

How ironic that so many female Ask Kate readers get quizzed about their martial and parental status much to their horror because they fear discrimination will follow while men are advertising the fact they have children believing it will boost their chances.

Keep your resume concise and relevant. In these times of increased competition you don’t want anything to appear on your resume that could be used against you.

Another trend is to include phone and email details and to leave off personal address. The purpose is to guard against “post code” prejudice. I will seek some more information on this one and get back to you.