Have you received any calls for interviews after submitting your resume? If not, are you wondering why? Did you include personal information? Just how detailed is the information that is necessary? If you included personal information or too many details you may be giving the reader a reason to eliminate you from the list of interviewees.

The process of elimination is the first step a hiring manager performs when he/she begins to sort resumes received. They look for any reason they can find to narrow down the pool of interviewees to the best possibilities. Even though a hiring manager may make an effort to look past certain personal information or details, such information may still have a subliminal effect on their immediate perception of you. Some hiring managers will already have a vision of what they are looking for in a potential employee.

Their vision may be of a person from the younger generation that is fresh out of college. Their reason for this could be due to the desire to train someone their own way. Another may have in mind a mature woman who won't have to deal with personal issues associated with being a mother of young or teenage children. There are a number of reasons your resume could be eliminated. Here are five tips to avoid being eliminated:

• 1. If you have over 15 years of experience, only go back 10-15 years in your career history. Ten years is preferable. Listing experience gained more than 10-15 years will give away your age. It could invite age discrimination although you would be hard pressed to prove it. If your earlier experience is crucial to the position, however, it should be listed.
  
  
• 2. It isn't necessary to let a potential employer know if you are married or single. If you are a young woman, the question of whether or not you are or will be planning a family may cross the mind of the reader. Although you may decide differently for your self at a later time in the process, being single shouldn't be a detriment in an environment where the majority of the employees are married or vice versa.
  
  
• 3. If your education was acquired more than 10-15 years ago only list your degrees, schools/universities attended, and the locations. Don't list the dates attended. Again, this is to prevent the possibility of age discrimination.
  
  
• 4. Don't include information that will give away your religious or political preferences. Of course, there are some exceptions to this if you are applying with a religious or political organization. Generally speaking, there is no reason to disclose this information.
  
  
• 5. Hobbies that interest you are best left at home as well. Your potential boss may not particularly care whether or not you can drive your Bigfoot truck through a huge puddle of mud and make it to the other side without sinking it. Unless, of course, you are applying to drive his/her Bigfoot truck through the mud puddle.
  

Angela Betts has over 8 years of experience writing targeted, compelling resumes that will open doors to a world of new opportunities for you. Email Angela at info@resumeritr.com or call 501-467-8768 for a FREE resume critique and to work one-on-one with Angela to develop your resume. Sign up for our FREE Career and Job Search Tips Newsletter. Visit http://www.resumeritr.com for more information.

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