Avoid a Long List of Honors and Awards on Your Resume

Hiring decision-makers surveyed for the book, Top Notch Executive Resumes identified this as one of their Top 30 Executive Resume Pet Peeves: Resume contains long lists of awards, trainings, and similar items. These are the items that often add unnecessary length and wordiness to a resume. Here’s an opportunity to ask yourself the “so what?” question. For every item you are considering listing, ask if it really adds any value to the resume. It’s not incumbent upon you to include everything you’ve ever accomplished, earned, or learned. Prioritize. Choose the items that will best make your case as the best qualified candidate for the job you seek. Consider also creating supplemental documents with awards, trainings, publications, presentations, media mentions, and similar items. That way, you’ll have them available if they’re requested, and you might also have an opportunity to discuss them in the interview stage.
See all 30 peeves: executive resume peeves 1-10 in Part 1, executive resume peeves 11-20 in Part 2 and executive resume peeves 21-30 in Part 3.