Legal Blog

As any hiring manager can tell you, a good portion of job seekers include a catalog of their favorite pastimes on their resume. Hobbies and interests, the thinking goes, help candidates show their personality. But keep in mind that employers are more interested in your professional qualifications than your love of travel. When it comes to your resume, hobbies and interests often just take up space and steal attention from your skills and experience.

Any job seeker knows that it’s hard — and sometimes darn near impossible — to get a hiring manager’s attention. So some candidates infuse their resumes and cover letters with humor, unexpected analogies, and cute and clever language in an effort to stand out. But will a clever resume really give you an advantage? Probably not. If fact, it could harm your chances of being called for a job interview.

Is there a need to include “References available upon request” or similar language on your resume? Find out here.

Words make up the vast majority of the content in your resume. But numbers feature prominently too. There’s no way to write a good resume without both.

Let’s be clear, lying on a resume is bad. Very bad. You never want to misrepresent your skills or experience when applying for a new position. It’s easier than ever for hiring managers to uncovering the true information. And once they do, your chances of landing the job will disappear.