My dad screens resumes all day. 6 things i would never put on mine.
My dad was a recruiter, 8 years, tech + healthcare + finance roles. not an all-knowing HR overlord, his job was watching what he allows forward vs what goes into the bin. the pattern was brutally consistent:
an objective statement. everyone knows your objective. it's this job. that's why the resume is in my hands. it's dead space where your best win should be
the buzzword self-portrait. highly motivated detail-oriented team player with excellent communication skills, this describes every resume in my queue, therefore no one. he’d skim right past it
a photo. introduces bias, some companies auto-reject for compliance because of it. zero upside in the EU/NA market
a soft-skills list. "leadership, teamwork, communication" as bullet points proves nothing. a bullet like "trained 4 new hires, all passed probation" proves all three at once
bullets that restate the job description. "handled customer inquiries", yes, that's the job. what changed because YOU did it? a number, a before/after, anything
"references available upon request." it's assumed. it's been assumed since 2009. no point writing it.
None of this is revolutionary. it's just the stuff that quietly kills otherwise solid resumes, every single day.