How much information is too much on a resume?

By RECRUITER - Kendra Andrews - HireNetworks - Raleigh

Take a step back when putting your resume together and look at what is really needed to convey what you do, versus what you are including to add length to your resume. I got a resume today from someone who works in a slaughterhouse but is trying to break into sales. The fact that he is completely outside of our field of IT staffing is beside the point. He included four bullets about what he does at his current position:

• Chained hind legs of stunned animals, such as cattle, sheep and hogs, to conveyor that suspended animals for slaughtering process.
• Vacuumed stomachs of cattle and placed labels on them.
• Assisted in driving animals into knocking chute.
• Receive blood from each animal and placed it in bags for USDA testing.

This is a prime example of adding fluff to a resume for length. Did he need to spell out the type of animals or that they were stunned? People who work at a slaughterhouse are going to know what he does by his title. People outside of the field don't need to see so much detail. This is an extreme example as his descriptions can be upsetting to people, but the same is true for people who have 8 bullets for what they did as a cashier at a fast food restaurant. Or the Java programmer who has 25 bullets to convey what could be said in 10. Make sure your resume is the right balance of enough information for the reader to know what you do, but not so much that they are turned off and move to the next person.