5 Outdated Pieces of Career Advice - FlexJobs

5 Outdated Pieces of Career Advice - FlexJobs 5 Outdated Pieces of Career Advice - career counselor with wisdom to share. And while some of the unsought advice we receive is actually quite useful, some of it can be less than useful, and even outdated. Check out these five outdated pieces of career advice: From an article about this very subject, we invite you to “ignore these outdated pieces of career advice.” “Your resume can only be one page.” Unless you are fresh out of college or have very limited experience, two page resumes are A-okay nowadays. “Every job has to go on your resume to present a complete account of your professional history.” Unless your job search goal is to bore recruiters and better your chances for rejection, don’t put every job you’ve ever had on your resume. Break it up into sections like Relevant and Additional Work Experience, and use only the most related experience you have. “When your interviewer asks about your weaknesses, offer up a positive framed as a weakness.” Using a strength as a weakness is just silly. Recruiters want you to be honest and tell them an area that you know you need to improve in. The key is to choose a weakness that is fairly easily overcome, and to stress that you have identified this as a weakness because you want to improve upon it. “Your resume and cover letter should be written in formal language.” While we don’t recommend writing your resume and cover letter as though they are quick Facebook messages to close friends, it’s okay to drop the uber-formal language for something more conversational. Let your personality shine through and skip the template-style letter for something from your heart. Tell them why you’re passionate about the job and what you’ve done to merit being hired. “Include an objective at the top of your resume.” This one is even a little bit hard for me to let go, only because in my days as a college career advisor many moons ago, I often recommended objectives on resumes for my students. But times change and so do job search norms, and a much more effective section on your resume is a Summary of Qualifications, which should be tailored for every job to which you apply. For five other pieces of outdated career advice, check out U.S. News World Report.