things that don’t belong on your resume #174

by Alison Green on December 15, 2010

Another in our series of things that don’t belong on your resume: information about where your kids attend college and what they’re majoring in.

I don’t even know what to say about this. But it seems clear that I might have to start traveling around the country in one of those vans outfitted with a megaphone and speakers so that I get more people’s attention about job-searching do’s and don’ts.

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{ 19 comments }

{ 19 comments… read them below }

  2. missinlnk*

    Please…PLEASE tell me this was on only one person's resume and not multiple resumes. I mean, one lost soul in the whole mix of things I can understand. But multiple resumes means that multiple people had the thought that this was a good idea.

    Ow. Just the thought of that makes my brain hurt.

  5. Suzanne Lucas*

    I so love this. My oldest child is only 7, but can I list where I want her to go to college?

    Also something not to put on your resume (as the very first, most important item, no less): Your high school basketball team.

  7. Jamie*

    Well if you hit Chicago in your traveling advice van shoot me an email – I'll make sure to bring you some hot tea so you don't freeze to death while saving people from themselves.

    And I will take my hobby of collecting penguin Christmas tchotchke off my resume should I ever be in the market for another job.

  11. Mike*

    Would you be willing to call and ask some of these folks why they felt this was needed? I can't for the life of me figure out why. A bad copy/paste from the family christmas letter perhaps?

  12. Ask a Manager*

    I think it comes from feeling like they want to give employers a "full sense of who they are," and not understanding professional norms and boundaries between the professional and the personal!

  14. Rebecca*

    I wonder if the intended message is "Look, I'm smart and put together enough to raise kids who are smart enough to go to college! Doncha wanna hire me?!"

    … well, congrats, but actually, raising children and working a job are still two different things… in spite of what some mommybloggers or Caroline Kennedy may think.

  15. Anonymous*

    Pictures please! I'm trying really hard to visualize where exactly you would put this information. Under "personal accomplishments of my personal accomplishment?"

  16. Andy Lester*

    I didn't drive a van, I wrote a book.

    Your frustration is also my frustration, and why there's a chapter in the book called "Too Much Information" which is exactly about this topic.

    It's all about focus on what actually matters to the reader. People need to ask themselves about EVERY shred of information on the page "Does this help the manager do things better or faster?" If not, it probably ought to go. If your data point is "to give a sense of" something, it's probably crap.

  17. JC*

    I think the only place that information should be placed is on a sperm/egg donor application.

    "My son went to Harvard; my genetics are *SOLID GOLD* I tell you!"

  19. Anonymous*

    Rebecca, I think you hit the nail on the head – it's all about breeder entitlement! "Look how responsible and smart my zygotes are!" and "look how much I deserve this job because of my expenses!"

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