When you’re writing a resume, there’s lots of advice online about how to structure one and what should be included. What’s harder to find is guidance on what should be left off a contemporary resume.
I’ve reviewed and written thousands of resumes over the years. I’ve seen some fantastic ones that convinced me the person was the right fit immediately, and others that left me wondering, “I don’t understand why they thought that would help!”
In this article, I share 14 things to cut before you hit send:
For the fundamentals of building the rest of the document, start with our guide on how to write a resume.
Do you have to put dates on a resume at all? Yes. Why? Because it helps recruiters and applicant tracking systems (ATS) calculate how much experience you have in a particular industry, role, level, or even a certain skill.
How an ATS reads your dates: ATS typically calculate experience in months then convert to years, so use the month-year format for start and end dates. Imagine you started a job in 2025 and finished in 2026. Without months, this could equal 24 months, or as few as two. A big difference! Using the month-year format enables an accurate calculation of overall experience - and it could give you the edge over another candidate if your total experience is easier to calculate. Here’s a sample format:
ACCOUNT MANAGER, Ottimini Creative Agency, New York, NY | 01/2025 – 08/2026
Missing months can also arouse suspicion in the recruiter’s mind, wondering why you didn’t include these (e.g. “Is this person hiding the fact that they were fired after their probation period ended?”). So avoid all doubt and include both month and year.
How about exact day-level dates? Never. Listing “03/14/2025 - 08/22/2026” instead of “03/2025 - 08/2026” comes across as either overly literal or like you’re padding a short stint to look longer. Month and year is the standard.
Conversely, there’s one time when using a year only format is beneficial, and that’s to minimize the appearance of an employment gap. Using the same example above, a gap from 03/2025 until 08/2026 is 17 months, whereas 2025 - 2026 could also be 2 months. Once the recruiter has met you in person and has begun to build a rapport, they’re less likely to think negatively about any gaps. A year-only format in this particular scenario will still get you in the door for an interview so they can learn more.
If you’re wondering how to handle a gap in your work history, our guide on addressing employment gaps covers exactly that.
How far back should your work history dates go? Aim for 10-15 years. Beyond that, it’s common - and recommended - to leave dates off entirely, or drop the role altogether, to avoid potential age bias from the person screening your resume (this applies to both younger and older applicants).
As many people career-pivot these days, it also makes sense to not include earlier, less relevant roles - it helps the reader focus on your recent, specialist experience rather than earlier junior or generalist positions.
Still have a specific formatting question? Jump to our FAQ below for quick answers on leaving dates off entirely, exact-date formatting, and how to handle a role you’re still in.
Continuing on from #1: never let a hiring manager guess your age before they’ve read your first bullet point - it invites bias you don’t need, in either direction.
Aside from job dates and earlier experiences, watch for three other places it sneaks in:
You’re not lying by leaving these out. They’re just details that may do you no favors.
There’s zero reason to refer to your availability in your resume. Save that for your cover letter, as it’s current at the time you submit it.
Your resume might sit on file for future opportunities, meaning any reference to availability is likely to be outdated by then. In your cover letter, you can mention if you’re available immediately, are available after a specific date, or after a particular amount of notice.
Hint: you can also indicate availability on LinkedIn via the green ‘Open to Work’ banner or by selecting ‘available immediately’ in your ‘Open to Work’ job preference settings - both found in the top section of your profile. LinkedIn functions like a real-time digital resume, no matter when it’s accessed. Real-time availability is more acceptable here.
Decades ago, a resume was expected to include a lot more personal information than it does today - and doing so now can invite biased assessments and put your data at risk. Here’s what to leave off:
Your full street address. Paired with your name, it’s enough identifying information for a fraudster to open accounts in yours. List your city and state only, so recruiters still know where you’re based.
Marital or parental status. It’s no one’s business, and it invites assumptions about your availability or dedication. Plus it’s a protected-class exposure risk for the employer, not just you.
Date of birth. It doesn’t belong on a resume either: it invites age bias and hands fraudsters another piece of your identity.
For the full breakdown of what belongs in your header instead, see our guide on how to write a resume header.
In North America - in fact, in most English-speaking markets - a photo should not be included in your resume. Not only is this to avoid the potential for age bias, but to avoid discriminatory judgments based on how you look. True story: I knew a recruiter who brought in an applicant for an interview based solely on the attractive headshot in their resume. It was a waste of everyone’s time, especially the confused job seeker (and no, they didn’t get the job - they weren’t a close fit to begin with).
ATS typically strip images from resumes, but recruiters may go back and look at the original document if there are any parsing issues. So leave it off.
The only exception is for roles where how you look is part of this, for example modelling, fashion, or industry-adjacent resumes.
In the past, an objective statement (telling the reader what you’re looking for) used to be common. That’s been replaced with the modern summary statement, which is a short snappy summary of your professional persona (typically your (target) title, years of experience, and key areas of expertise). For example:
Senior Accountant with twelve years of experience, the last seven within the warehouse of a major ecommerce platform. Key areas of focus include managing cost accounting and overseeing inventory.
(not: “I’m seeking a senior accounting job where I can apply my years of experience with an ecommerce platform in a role that will further my career goals.”).
Leave any mention of high school off once you have anything else to put in its place - a completed semester of college, a certification, an internship, or your first job. At that point, your high school diploma adds nothing a recruiter needs, and can make you look less experienced than you actually are.
But if you’re still in your final year (or graduated in the last 1-2 years) with nothing else yet? Keep it - just list it plainly, and drop it once you have something else to add.
Never list a salary figure (current or desired) on the resume itself. It’s a negotiating detail, not a qualification. Putting a number on the page before you’ve had a conversation hands an employer leverage before you’ve started one.
If a posting asks for it, follow the instructions on the application form, not your resume. Tip: write “Negotiable” instead of an exact figure in an online application where possible, to allow yourself wiggle room.
Otherwise, hold the number back for the interview, and only share it if asked directly. Even then, I recommend an excuse such as, “My current/previous employer prefers salary information not to be disclosed” to avoid answering outright. Your past salary is not relevant to the salary a potential employer can offer.
Do you know what “PNC Check”, “Remote Entity Portal”, or “FR Y-9C” mean? Neither does the hiring manager screening your resume. Avoid company or industry jargon outsiders won’t recognise - swap it for a plain description that still carries the relevant keyword (e.g. FR Y-9C = quarterly consolidated financial statement).
The same goes for buzzword stuffing, including hiding job-description keywords in invisible white font to game the ATS. Recruiters spot it, and it only annoys them. Instead, work keywords naturally into your job descriptions and skills section.
AI-generated filler is the newer version of the same problem: bullets that all follow the same rhythm, inflated language, and phrasing lifted straight from the job posting. Once you’ve read a few, the pattern is unmistakable.
AI is fine for drafting, gap-checking, or catching typos. Just edit the output into your own voice with verifiable specifics before it goes out. Read every line back and ask: would I actually say this in an interview?
Example: “Leveraged cross-functional collaboration to drive synergistic outcomes” says nothing. “Slashed onboarding time from 6 weeks to 3 by overhauling HR’s training checklist” says everything.
Never invent or inflate a job title, date, degree, or company. It’s the fastest way to lose a job you already have, not just one you’re applying for.
One legitimate exception: a modified title that reflects the role you’re targeting, and that your former manager would still call accurate, is fine. “Team Lead” instead of your official “Senior Associate” title works if you genuinely led a team. Claiming “Manager” when you never held the title doesn’t.
This is easier to catch than it used to be. AI-assisted reference and background checks can cross-reference your resume against LinkedIn, past employer records, and public filings in minutes. A mismatch that once slipped through now surfaces before the interview loop is done.
Creatively designed resumes can look fantastic - until they hit an ATS that can’t parse them. Skill bars, icons, text boxes, headshot templates, and multi-column layouts are the biggest offenders: many parsers skip anything outside a single text column entirely, so that carefully designed skills chart may never reach a human reader.
Do instead: stick to a clean, single-column layout with standard section headers (Experience, Education, Skills). If you want visual polish, use bold and simple formatting (e.g. a bolded job title, a horizontal rule between sections) rather than graphics. Save the fully designed version as a PDF portfolio piece to bring to the interview, not the file you submit through an ATS.
If you are not sure whether your layout survives a parser, run it through our free ATS resume checker — it reads the file the way an applicant tracking system does and shows you what came through. For more on what else crowds out the content that matters, see our tutorial on the nine things that clutter up a resume.
Some people believe in being upfront and honest. Great trait, but it will get you nowhere fast if you’re the wrong kind of honest in your resume. Specifically, drawing attention to why you left your previous job in your resume (e.g. in the job description or summary).
You may have worked in a toxic environment, endured an awful boss, had your role made redundant, or were bored. Keep negative framing out of your resume entirely, and bring up the situation - diplomatically and constructively - only if relevant in the job interview. Not in your resume, not in your cover letter, not in an angry LinkedIn post.
No need to include “References available upon request” or even a list of references with names and contact info. There are several reasons: a) the info may be used as warm sales leads by recruiters (“Erin Pattinson gave me your name” is more likely to get a response than a generic cold call), b) some companies contact references before even interviewing you, which means you lose control over the process, and c) it’s assumed references will be provided when needed anyway.
Instead, use the reclaimed space (if needed) to focus on job-pertinent sections suited to the bottom part of your resume, such as your technical skills, professional memberships, certifications/professional training, and languages.
If you’re short on space elsewhere, our guide on optimizing a two-page resume covers what’s worth keeping and what to cut.
Never add a “prepared on” or “last updated” date to the document itself - it does the opposite of what you intend. A date stamp ages your resume the moment it’s read, especially if a recruiter pulls the file again months later for a different role.
Instead, indicate recency through content: current tools, recent certifications, and terminology you’d actually use today (ditch Lotus Notes from your technical skills section).
One practical tip that does help: name your file clearly - First Name Last Name Resume Position (e.g. Joanna Waters Resume Project Manager) - so recruiters without an ATS can find it fast among hundreds of applications.
None of this is complicated once you know what to look for. It’s mostly a matter of cutting what doesn’t earn its place. Run your resume through this list once, and you’ll catch the same things I flag in a first-pass review.
Ready to build yours? Our free resume builder lays the sections out in a clean, single-column format that parses correctly, so most of this list is handled before you start.
No. Omitting dates entirely reads as evasive to both recruiters and ATS. Use year-only formatting to soften an employment gap instead of dropping dates altogether.
Months and years for your most recent 10–15 years of experience. Year-only works for softening a gap; anything older than 15 years can lose the date, or the role, entirely.
Yes. Both recruiters and ATS use them to calculate how much experience you have. Leaving them off raises more questions than it answers.
No. Stick to month and year. Exact day-level dates (“03/14/2025”) come across as either overly precise or like you’re padding a short stint to look longer.
No. Keep availability off the resume regardless of your current employment status. Save it for your cover letter or your LinkedIn “Open to Work” settings.
Write “Present” - a blank end date can look like an error or an unfinished draft. Format it the same way as your other end dates: “03/2024 - Present.”