Resume writing is the job hunter's one key to clinching an interview and landing a job. Therefore, this is one undertaking that they should seriously contemplate. Every word in the resume should reflect how fitting they are for the company. However, amidst endless hours of reflection, job seekers still make resume writing mistakes now and then.

When brainstorming for information to incorporate in their resume, the following are the data that job seekers should exclude:

Reason for Leaving

In resume writing, do not include the reason for leaving the previous company. No matter how innocent the cause for it is, it would not look good on the resume and might deter possible employers from calling. Instead, job seekers should simply state the period when they were part of the company and highlight the milestones that they achieved during their stay there. Should the employer wish to know the reason for leaving, he or she will ask about it during the interview.

Expected Salary

Including the expected salary is not a wise move in resume writing. For one thing, the employers will automatically eliminate the jobseekers once the salary far exceeds the company's budget. It can also be counter-productive in cases where the jobseeker states a figure and they are worth more than that.

Save the practical details of negotiations for the interview, as it is more professional to discuss these fiscal concerns face to face.

Personal Data Including Nationality, Age, Religion, etc.

These personal details have no room in résumé writing. It would be for the best if jobseekers stick to the facts relevant to the application including their skills and educational background. Further, these should not be included as there is still that possibility that the applicant can be discriminated.

Pictures, Sample Writings, Artworks

Resume writing is a marketing endeavor whereby the job seekers convince the employers that they are perfect for the position in the latter's company. Hence, they should not waste precious space by including pictures, writings, artworks or similar paraphernalia in the resume. If the interviewer is interested in seeing these, he or she will ask for it. Then this is the proper time and venue to show these off – in a portfolio, not in the resume.

List of References

In resume writing, most job seekers make the mistake of writing the names and numbers of their references in the résumé. This is a major transgression and job seekers should not do this especially when they are still in the phase of sending some random resumes to various employers in the industry.

The ideal way to do this is to state "Available upon request" on the page. Once the jobseeker and the employer have mutually agreed to move forward with the application, this is the best time to give the list of references. To avoid any conflicts, job seekers should bear in mind that it is common courtesy to ask the person's permission first before giving out their names and contact details.  This way, they do not get surprised when they receive a call from employers.