Biggest Resume Mistakes

I’ll never forget Laszlo Bock’s list of the biggest resume mistakes! As the former Senior Vice President of People Operations at Google, Bock was always generous with his insights on resume issues. After reading A LOT of resumes, his list of the top 5 issues had the following. 

1. Typos

2. Length of document 

3. Formatting

4. Lies (Yes. Lies)

5. Sharing confidential information

The first four on the list didn’t surprise me, but the fifth item did. If you are looking at a list of items that will cause resume fails, expect to see the top four. However, confidential information was one resume mistake that struck me and I wanted to point it out specifically.

Resume mistakes

What’s Wrong with Adding Confidential Information to Your Resume?

Here is what Bock had to say, "I once received a resume from an applicant working at a top-three consulting firm. This firm had a strict confidentiality policy: client names were never to be shared. On the resume, the candidate wrote: "Consulted to a major software company in Redmond, Washington." 

Bock rejected that resume and probably dashed someone’s hopes of working for Google. To Bock that was close enough for him to figure out the name of the major software company in Redmond was.

So resume writing presents an inherent conflict between an employer's needs (to keep their business secrets confidential) and your needs (to show how awesome you are) so you can get the job you want. So, according to Bock, “candidates often find ways to honor the letter of their confidentiality agreements but not the spirit. To Bock, that was a big mistake.

Bock's point is that even though the job seeker did not mention (insert big company name here) specifically, everyone, especially at Google, knows which major software company is located in Redmond, Washington. Bock also shared that in a quick survey, they found that 5-10% of applicants were sharing confidential information from their previous jobs on their resumes.

The lesson here? Put yourself in the employer’s shoes. Two issues come to mind:

First, the hiring manager might believe that you will share their company's secrets too in your next job search. Second, competitors know who is in their industry. Although you might think you are staying in line with the confidentiality arrangement, you can’t mask it well enough. 

In business, when success requires you be a first-mover in the market, protecting confidential information is key.

Bottom line is - be careful what you share! By the way, it could cost you more than the potential job if you disclosing proprietary information is one of the resume mistakes for which you get busted.

Read Bock's article here.