Marital status on CV? Think twice

Raise up your hands if your CV includes your marital status. It seems that most, if not all, campus students include marital status in their CVs. It is what we were taught in school, right? Well, that may just cost you a job, Campus Vibe has learnt.

According to a human resources consultant, students include many unnecessary entries on their résumés. Speaking to Campus Vibe, Perminus Wainaina of Corporate Staffing said the topic of marital status is very emotive and that some employers would silently discriminate against some people.

“Unless it is asked for, I would not recommend someone to have their marital status on the CV,” said Wainaina.

“If you are a 40-year-old bachelor for example and you indicate as much on your CV, an employer may just imagine you are not responsible enough,” he added.

Wainaina said that some people he has come across put unnecessary details on their CVs, like tribe, native language, religion and even driving licence numbers, all of which he said should not appear anywhere on the résumé.

“Unless it is a job in the hospitality industry or indicated in the job advert, do not include a passport size or any photo,” said Wainaina.

Communications consultant, Corazon Mwende, while agreeing with Wainaina on marital status, told Campus Vibe that high school grades for someone who’s been working for 5 years are unnecessary. Mwende, a consultant with Corporate Talks said that unless that kind of information is asked for in a job advert, it should not be included.

“There is a lot of unnecessary information that people share which is annoying and makes the CV look too long with unnecessary information,” said Mwende.