What to leave off a resume in 2026

Personal details that do not belong on a resume

In the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia, employers are not allowed to make hiring decisions based on age, marital status, religion, nationality, or physical appearance. Including these details does not help you and can trigger unconscious bias before a recruiter reads a single bullet point.

Strip your resume down to your name, a professional email address, a phone number, your city and state or city and country, a LinkedIn URL, and a portfolio link if your field calls for one. That is all the personal information a hiring manager needs at the application stage.

• Photo or headshot
• Date of birth or age
• Marital or family status
• Gender or pronouns (unless you choose to include them)
• Nationality or citizenship status (save this for the application form)
• Full street address (city and state is enough)
• Religion or political affiliation
• Social Security number, National Insurance number, or Tax File Number

Sections that are outdated in 2026

Several resume sections that were standard a decade ago now signal an outdated document. Recruiters spend an average of six to ten seconds on an initial scan, so every line needs to earn its place.

The objective statement is the most common offender. A line like 'Seeking a challenging role where I can grow my skills' tells the employer nothing useful. Replace it with a two-to-three sentence professional summary that names your specialty, your years of experience, and one concrete result.

• Objective statement
• References or 'References available upon request' (employers ask when they want them)
• A separate 'Interests and hobbies' section unless the hobby is directly relevant, for example a cybersecurity role where you compete in CTF events
• A 'Skills' section that lists only software everyone in your field uses, such as Microsoft Word or Google Docs
• A headshot or decorative border that breaks applicant tracking system parsing

Work history details to cut

You do not need to list every job you have ever held. A common guideline is to go back ten to fifteen years for most roles, or further only if older experience is directly relevant. A job from 2003 that has no bearing on the role you are applying for takes up space that a strong recent achievement could fill.

Within each role, cut duties and keep results. 'Responsible for managing social media accounts' is a duty. 'Grew Instagram following from 4,000 to 22,000 in eight months by shifting to short-form video' is a result. Recruiters want to see impact, not a job description copied from your old contract.

Also remove the month from employment dates if you are trying to hide a short gap. Recruiters notice when months are missing. If you have a gap, address it briefly in your cover letter instead of obscuring it with formatting tricks.

• Jobs held more than fifteen years ago that are unrelated to your target role
• Duties written as passive responsibilities rather than active results
• Reasons for leaving any position
• Salary history or salary expectations (include these only if the job posting explicitly requires them)
• Manager names or contact details for previous employers

Education details to remove

Once you have more than three years of work experience, your education section should be brief. Remove your GPA unless it is above 3.5 and you graduated within the last two years. Remove your high school entirely once you have a degree. Remove the year you graduated if you are concerned about age discrimination, though note this is a personal choice and some applicants prefer to keep it.

Coursework lists are rarely worth the space. If a specific course is genuinely relevant, mention it in a bullet under the degree rather than listing ten courses in a block. Certifications that have expired should be removed or marked clearly as lapsed.

• High school diploma or A-levels once you hold a university degree
• GPA below 3.5 or a GPA from more than two years ago
• Irrelevant coursework lists
• Expired certifications presented as current
• Extracurricular activities from university unless you are a recent graduate

Formatting and language to remove

Certain phrases appear on so many resumes that they have lost all meaning. Recruiters read 'results-driven', 'team player', 'detail-oriented', and 'passionate' hundreds of times a week. These words take up space without adding information. Replace them with specific examples that demonstrate the quality instead.

On the formatting side, remove tables, text boxes, headers and footers with your name, and columns if you are applying through an applicant tracking system. These elements often break parsing and cause your information to appear garbled or missing. A clean single-column layout with standard fonts like Calibri, Arial, or Georgia at 10 to 12 points is the safest choice.

Remove graphics, icons next to section headings, and color-coded skill bars. A bar showing your Python skill at '80%' is meaningless because there is no agreed scale, and it often fails to parse correctly.

• Buzzwords: results-driven, passionate, dynamic, synergy, guru, ninja, rockstar
• Tables and text boxes
• Headers and footers containing your contact details
• Skill rating bars or star ratings
• Multiple columns if applying through an ATS
• Logos of previous employers or universities

How to check your resume before you apply

After cutting the items above, read each remaining line and ask two questions: does this relate to the job I am applying for, and does it show a result or just a duty? If the answer to either question is no, cut or rewrite the line.

Break-In Bad's resume enhancement feature walks you through this process in a structured conversation. Omar asks up to twenty questions about your experience, checks every line against what you confirm, and rewrites the resume to match the specific job posting without inventing details. If you are starting from scratch, the build-from-scratch option covers the same ground with more questions. Either way, the original file is always preserved so you can compare before and after.