"CAN A RESUME EVER TELL TOO MUCH?" "Can a Resume Ever Tell Too Much" was an article by Louise Story in the September 16, 2004 WALL STREET JOURNAL. If you are one of the 10% (based on headhunter estimates*) of job seekers who have or are contemplating linking your resume to your we site, I highly recommend that you read this article. As I stated in an early blogg, the purpose of a resume is to get you an interview, period. Trying to use your resume or a linked web site to form some type of bond with the hiring authority will almost always backfire. You may be the cutest or most handsome person in the world but if you remind the hiring authority of his or her ex-spouse, your hopes for an interview are gone. Very often too much information is worse than not enough.
Be very careful what you share with a hiring authority. It may be all right to tell a third party recruiter (headhunter) that before you can interview for the job you must get your son's parole officer's approval before he can travel out of state and since he will be living with you, you want him to have a look at the new town but that is probably not something you want to share with the hiring authority. That information is none of the hiring authority's business but if the hiring authority is made aware of your son's past incarceration he may assume that the apple does not fall far from the tree.
In my previous life as an engineering manager, I was interviewing a Project Engineering candidate for a position in my department and early in the interview he shared with me that he was a diabetic even though I had not asked any questions about his health or his health possibly affecting his ability to do the job. Fortunately I had worked for a company that made glucose monitoring strips and meters and I knew a great deal about diabetes, so this health issue did not concern me but it might have concerned someone else. His statement did leave me in a quandary, if I rejected him for the Project Engineer position would the company be sued for violating a federal law. I did hire him and he turned out to be an excellent hire but if I had had a concern about his diabetes, I might have lost an excellent employee.
Ask yourself before you write, link or speak: AM I SHARING INFORMATION THAT MAY ACTUALLY COST ME THE POSITION I WANT?
*Remember, 67% of statistics are made up on the spot.
9:45:34 PM 
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