Make your resume lean and mean

Wordy resumes, post-interview etiquette, stressed out workers, and yawning on the job, these are a few of the hot topics around the water cooler this week.

If you’re job hunting, you should make sure your resume doesn’t overwhelm those you’re trying to impress. Think lean and mean, not novel length. And cut out the overly-personal, cute and irrelevant.

You might be a divorced, vegetarian, cat owner, who loves NASCAR and the Buffalo Bills, in addition to being the world’s greatest payroll clerk, but your prospective employer can learn all those fascinating details during your interview.

A lot of folks blab too much in their resumes, according to ResumeDoctor.com, a Vermont-based resume consulting service. The company surveyed nearly 100,000 resumes and found that almost a third, 29 percent, contained irrelevant data.

“Describing your hobbies, interests and marital status can make your resume read more like a dating profile,” said Brad Fredericks, a co-founder of the company.

Fredericks also cautions job hunters about including pay requirements on a resume, again, it is too much information, too soon.

“Listing your salary history in your resume before it’s requested is a bad idea, as it can put you at a disadvantage during the negotiation process or possibly even eliminate you from jobs that you would have considered,” he said. “It’s like playing poker with your cards showing.”

Also avoid full disclosure when it comes to your date of birth (it opens the door to age discrimination), your Social Security number (think identity theft) or your childrens’ ages. (A potential employer might view your adorable, 3-year-old twins as a hurdle to productivity.) Employers can also get a little squeamish about risky hobbies like sky-diving, mountain climbing and drag racing. Those lifestyle details are best revealed to your new co-workers and boss AFTER you’ve been hired.

So your resume passes muster and you get called in for an interview. Show your good manners and send a thank-you note.

The gesture of sending a thank-you note after a job interview – or failing to – makes an impression on many prospective employers.

According to a CareerBuilders.com survey of more than 650 hiring managers:

• About 15 percent of hiring managers would not hire someone who failed to send a thank-you letter.

• 32 percent would still consider the candidate, but they would think less of him or her.

• 26 percent of managers expect to have a thank you in hand two days after the interv

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