A recruiter has warned Australians could lose out on their dream job by including irrelevant hobbies or even their date of birth on their resume.
Consultant Tammie Ballis, who runs Realistic Careers in Sydney, has shared some of the 'ridiculous resumes' she received while helping to fill a customer service role.
'No contact details, no job titles, no dates of employment,' she said in reference to one of the CVs she saw during her search for a candidate.
'(One had) pictures to describe things, so think administration and music, (illustrated by) a picture of a piece of paper and music notes. Write your resume in plain English, no pictures. We're not in Year Five.
'Someone's put their date of birth – don't do that. A 40-year-old man has put down on his resume that he plays Minecraft as a hobby.
'People might take this the wrong way. My hiring manager is a mother, and she's wanting to know why a 40-year-old man plays Minecraft.
'Nothing wrong with playing Minecraft. There's nothing wrong with gaming, but keep it professional. I'm not suggesting anything sinister here, but someone might take it the wrong way. Play it safe and take your hobbies off your resume.'
The gaming community was quick to accuse Ms Ballis of being judgemental, but she doubled down, telling the Daily Mail that mentioning hobbies can be misinterpreted.
Consultant Tammie Ballis (pictured) said that highlighting a desire to work remotely can also be a red flag to some hiring managers
A recruiter has criticised Aussies who use unprofessional fonts and pictures to describe things in their CVs (a rendering of a poor example is pictured)
'To the everyday person who isn't a gamer (such as the hiring manager), she didn't understand,' Ms Ballis said.
'But the reason my video went viral was because people in the gaming community thought it was normal when it's absolutely not.
'And that might be the reason why you miss out on a job opportunity, even though it is 100 per cent innocent.'
She added that highlighting a desire to work remotely can also be a red flag.
'What they don't understand is that this is a turn-off for employers, because it only looks like you're going to apply for this job because it's got flexible working arrangements,' Ms Ballis said.
'If it doesn't have flexible working arrangements, it looks like you're going to ask for work from home – so it's even worse if the job advertisement doesn't mention it.
'With the petrol crisis going on, the work from home conversation is starting up again in the media, but still, stay away from it.'
Ms Ballis said she had seen dozens of poorly formatted CVs over the years, including one that was 12 pages long.
The recruiter shared her top tips for presenting an organised resume to prospective employers.
She also said people shouldn't list hobbies on CVs as they can be misinterpreted (another rendering of a CV displaying hobbies and interests)
'For someone listing their experience, it comes first on the page,' she said.
'Font size should be either 11 or 12, in Arial or Calibri, something modern – and make it one or two pages.'
'(Recruiters) are looking for your job titles and if you don't have a title similar to the job you're applying for, you're not going to get it because you don't have the experience. It's literally that simple.'
