Dr. Diane Hamilton's Blog
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2011 Top 10 Things You Should Not Put On Your Resume
In a tough economy, many people are trying to perfect their resumes. It is a very competitive market out there, with many competing for the few coveted jobs. It is important not to make the mistake of including inappropriate information in your resume or cover letter as this is the first thing that companies use to judge you.
I read an interesting article about whether you should include your MBTI and IQ results on your resume. AskaManager.com didn’t think this was a good idea explaining, “Resumes are for listing your accomplishments; they’re not for personal traits. Listing that you’re an “ESTJ” does give me some information about you, but it doesn’t tell me what you’ve achieved and experienced, which is what I’m looking for when I look at your resume.”
This made me think about all of the resumes I’ve screened that had inappropriate information listed on them. Here is my top list of things you should never include on your resume:
- Age, weight, height, religion, race, political affiliation, pets, marital status and other personal information
- Salary requirements
- Inappropriate email names (example: Toosexy at blahblah.com)
- Medical issues
- High School Information, High School Memberships
- Photograph
- Personal negative feelings about a position or employer
- Hobbies or activities that imply religious affiliation
- IQ, EQ, Personality Results, Mensa, GPA
- Overly large or busy fonts and colors on resume and cover page
Some career sites note that the objective and reference sections are not a good addition. I don’t personally think those are as much of a problem. In fact, I think an objective statement can help if a person’s past jobs aren’t in line with the job they are hoping to obtain. Including the phrase “References Available Upon Request” is still acceptable although not required. It is not correct to actually list the people being used as references unless they are requested.
Related Articles
- Should You List Your Home Address on Your Resume? (chicagonow.com)
- You Won’t Land A Job If You Can’t Follow Directions (blogs.forbes.com)
- Are Employers Trying to Trick You In the Interview
- Millennials Replacing Baby Boomer Workforce
WordPress To Introduce New Stats Features For Authors
Many blogs on WordPress are large enough that they have several authors writing for them. Wouldn’t it be nice to see which author is bringing in the most views? Well now you can.
According to TimesoftheInternet.com, “Now, WordPress is introducing a stats feature which will allow the admin to see which posts are profitable and which authors are bringing in the most profit. This way, they can ask their authors to change their styles to bring in more profit for the site. This is one feature that is very useful for WordPress blog admins. They can easily manage their top authors from their dashboard and make necessary changes.This feature should be available very soon, probably in the next beta release of WordPress. So if you’re running a WordPress blog, you could make good use of this feature which will help you manage your site authors.”
The Top 10 Most Common Writing Mistakes
Ask Dr. Diane: What are the most common writing mistakes that your students make?
While it is not unusual to see spelling and grammar issues, I’ll assume that readers realize that they should check for such things and just list the top 10 most common other issues I see here. I hope this posting will give some insight into how to set up your papers so that you can avoid making these common mistakes.
- Papers not set up with double-spacing – To set your paper to be double-spaced, be sure you are on the home tab in Word and go to the paragraph section of the tool bar. There is an up and down arrow icon that you can click on. When you do this, it will give you choices of how to set up your spacing. Pick 2.0 to set double-spacing.
- Papers should not have an extra space between paragraphs – Remember that papers must be double-spaced throughout in APA. Word sometimes defaults with an extra space between paragraphs. To change this, click here.
- Papers must have headers/numbers set up correctly through the header/number function in Word – To learn how to do this, click here.
- Papers must be set up with an introduction/body/conclusion – Your introduction and conclusion need to be strong summaries of what the paper will or has included. For more about how to write an essay, click here.
- Papers should not be written in first person – Remove the “I” or “Me” from your writing. For an explanation of the meaning of first person, click here.
- Citing and References confusion – Citing is the act of quoting a source. For example: “Citing is the act of quoting a source.” (Hamilton, 2010) This is not to be confused with references. References are included on a separate page with the title References at the top. You must include references whenever you cite. The reference explains who deserves credit for the citation. Many students list references but no citations. That is not correct. You need both.
- Paragraph length confusion – Students often either write in overly short or overly long paragraphs. A good size paragraph is at least 3-4 sentences but should not be so long that it takes up an entire page or more.
- Papers should be left justified and not blocked – Students sometimes write in blocked format. That is not correct. Papers need to be left justified. The setting for this is on the home tab under the paragraph part of the toolbar.
- Over citing – I see a lot of students who tend to write entire paragraphs of citing and forget to include their own writing in their work. Although citing is important, it is also important to have your own points and statements. Remember to make your point and then follow that up with citations to back up what you have written. As a professor, I am looking to see that you have learned the subject and are not simply restating what others have said.
- Forgetting title page – Students often forget to include a title page. It is very important that all papers include a title page that is correctly formatted in APA format. For helpful examples of APA formatting, click here.
For more help, see the following articles:
15 Ways to Improve Writing Skills for Students and Everyone Else
Removing Extra Spaces Between Paragraphs
How to Add Headers and Page Numbers in Word
APA Style: 5 Essential Tips for APA Style Headings
Citing Long Quotations in APA 6th Edition
Sample APA Paper – 6th Edition
Adding 2 Spaces After a Period to Meet APA 6th Edition Requirements
What is the Difference Between a Citation and a Reference?
PowerPoint – Resources and Examples to Make the Perfect Presentation
The Top 100 Vocabulary Words Adults Should Know
Sample APA 6th edition paper in PDF Form
Explanation of First, Second and Third Person Writing
Anthropomorphisms: When Not to Use Them
Have Some Fun With Common Grammar Mistakes
KIVA and IVA Talk Radio Interviews Dr. Diane Hamilton
Upcoming Episodes
KIVA Talk Radio’s Women in Business Interviews Dr. Diane Hamilton
Dr Ande
She’s an accomplished businessperson with real-life experience working in real estate, finance, technology and pharmaceutical industries. Her experience also includes working as an organizational development consultant helping companies with training, time management, emotional intelligence and facilitating the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® Instrument.She’s going to help get your career in focus!
Upcoming Episodes
10/20/2010 5:00 PM – I V A Radio Presents…the return of business specialist Dr. Diane Hamilton
Can Texting Damage Writing Skills?
I often talk to my students about whether they feel texting has caused people to have more difficulties with their writing skills. I personally see a lot of first-year students who abbreviate quite a bit, lack punctuation skills and don’t write in complete sentences.
Young and younger children are receiving cell phones. It may make parents feel safer knowing they can reach their children. Tweens are learning to type in text abbreviations which may affect their ability to write well. WJS.com reported “The average 13- to 17-year-old sends and receives 3,339 texts a month—more than 100 per day, according to the Nielsen Co., the media research firm. Adults are catching up. People from ages 45 to 54 sent and received 323 texts a month in the second quarter of 2010, up 75% from a year ago.”
Eudopia.org recently posted a survey asking the following question to see if text messaging is harming students’ writing skills: “IYO txtng = NME or NBD?” If you have no idea what that means . . . Translation: “In your opinion, is text messaging the enemy, or no big deal?”
PiercePioneer.com asked, Mike Darcher, English instructor for 20 years if he felt texting was hurting our students’ writing ability. He said he could not make the connection of bad texting habits being carried over into student’s writing. “In terms of writing skills, there is no way of measuring its impact,” Darcher said.
TimesDaily reported the results of a report of a study from Pew Internet and American Life Project. “The study was prompted in large part because of growing concerns over how text-based electronic communications affect the writing ability of students who are immersed in electronic media. Out of 700 youth aged 12-17 who participated in the phone survey, 60 percent say they don’t consider electronic communications – e-mail, instant messaging, mobile text – to be writing in the formal sense; 63 percent say it has no impact on the writing they do for school and 64 percent report inadvertently using some form of shorthand common to electronic text, including emotions, incorrect grammar or punctuation.”
Some linguists are mixed on the effect of texting on writing skills. There are those who think that this may not last and may just go the way of some slang words that are no longer used. Some think that learning texting is just like learning another language. As long as the students can keep them separated, then they see no problem with it.
Texting may be a passing thing, but it is definitely here for now. If you are trying to figure out what that text is or that abbreviation that someone sent you, you might want to check out the following list from the Vancouver Sun:
The top 10 commonly used abbreviations in texting — translated to plain English:
– 411 — All the information
– BBIAS — Be back in a second (also BBIF — be back in a few, and BBL — be back later)
– BFN — Bye for now
– ETA — Estimated time of arrival (used for deadlines and when to expect something/someone)
– FYI — For your information
– KK — Okay, okay (I understand what you’re saying)
– LOL — Laugh out loud
– OMG — Oh my God
– TTYL — Talk to you later (also TTYS — talk to you soon)
– UOK — Are you okay?
If you want to know what your kids are saying to each other, here are some common text abbreviations to watch for. Parent alerts include:
– PAW or 9 — Parents are watching
– POV — Parent over shoulder
– CD9 — Code 9, meaning Parents are around
– P911 — Parents coming into room alert
– PIR — Parents in room
– PSOS — Parent standing over shoulder
– KPC — Keeping parents clueless
– NP — Nosy parents (But this is also used as “no problem”)
Want to know your kids’ relationship status? Nothing to be alarmed about if they text:
– LYLAB — Love you like a brother
– LYLAS — Love you like a sister
– LDR — Long distance relationship
But you don’t want to see:
– 420 — Let’s get high/marijuana use
– LGH — Let’s get high
– LH6 — Let’s have sex
– LHOS — Let’s have online sex
– LIK — Liquor
How is their day going? Here are a few common indicators:
– 2MTH — Too much to handle
– ADIH — Another day in hell
– ADIP — Another day in paradise
– LTHTT — Laughing too hard to type
– HHIS — Head hanging in shame
– CWOT — Complete waste of time
– IMSB — I’m so bored
– BOOMS — Bored out of my skull
– 121 — One to one (private chat invitation)
If your son or daughter texts you a status report, you should be familiar with:
– BHL8 — Be home late
– CUL8R — See you later
– G2G — Got to go
– G2R — Got to run
– ILBL8 — I’ll be late
– TTYL — Talk to you later