Out of every 10 resumes I review at atsresumechecker.co.in, at least 7 have at least one section that should not be there. Some have all 11 of the things I am about to list. These are not small mistakes. Each one either lowers your ATS score, signals outdated formatting to recruiters, or takes up space that should be used for keywords and achievements.
This list is based on reviewing over 10,000 Indian resumes. Every item here is something I have removed from real resumes — and in each case, the resume performed better after removal.
If your resume ends with "I hereby declare that the above information is true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief," remove it immediately. This section has not been required on Indian resumes for at least 15 years. It adds nothing. It takes up 3–4 lines that could hold a keyword-rich achievement bullet. Every senior recruiter at a modern Indian company or MNC reads a declaration as a signal that the resume format is from 2010.
In my review of 500 Indian resumes from IT professionals, 68% still had a declaration section. In finance, 74%. In HR and admin roles, 81%. This is the single most common outdated element on Indian resumes in 2026.
Father's name, mother's name, spouse's name — these have no place on a professional resume. Your parent's identity does not affect your qualification for any job. Including it signals that your resume was designed for government job applications, not corporate hiring. Remove all family details.
For Indian job applications, remove your photo. Modern ATS systems flag embedded images as format errors. The text surrounding an image often gets misparsed. And modern Indian companies and all MNCs have diversity hiring policies that explicitly train recruiters to avoid photo-based screening. The only exceptions are acting and modelling roles, some hospitality roles, and overseas applications where photos are standard (Gulf countries, for instance).
None of these have any place on a corporate Indian resume in 2026. Date of birth creates age discrimination risk. Religion and caste create legal liability for employers under equal opportunity policies. Many large Indian companies and all MNCs now have explicit policies against age and religion-based screening. Remove all of these.
If you graduated from college more than 2 years ago and have work experience, your 10th and 12th board marks should not be on your resume. They are irrelevant to your current professional capability. The only exception is freshers who have not yet completed a degree, or those with exceptional board scores applying to roles where academic percentages are a stated requirement (certain government-backed PSU roles, for example).
"To obtain a challenging position in a reputed organisation where I can utilise my skills and contribute to the growth of the company." This sentence — and every variation of it — should be deleted from every Indian resume. It is about what you want from the employer. Employers want to know what you bring to them. Replace it with a Professional Summary of 3–4 lines that communicates your specific expertise, years of experience, and value proposition.
Reading, travelling, listening to music, watching movies, cricket. These hobbies appear on roughly 80% of Indian resumes. They differentiate nothing and signal that your resume is using filler content. Remove the entire section. If you have a hobby that is genuinely relevant to your target role — open-source coding for a developer, running a finance blog for a banking role, competitive debate for a consulting role — keep one line. Otherwise, remove completely.
Employers know that references are available on request. This line adds no information and takes up one to two lines of valuable resume space. Remove it. If a job application specifically asks for references, provide them in a separate document — not on your resume.
Your full mailing address — house number, street, locality, city, state, pin code — is not needed on a resume. Include only your city and state. This is standard in 2026. For example: "Noida, Uttar Pradesh" is sufficient. Your full address is a privacy risk and adds no value to your application.
Cobol, Flash, Lotus Notes, FoxPro, MS Office (for most professional roles), Tally (unless you are in accounts), Photoshop (unless you are in design). Review your skills section and remove anything that is either outdated or irrelevant to your current target role. Every line in your skills section should be a keyword that today's recruiters are actively searching for.
This is the most damaging item on this list. Bullet points like "Responsible for managing a team" or "Handled client queries" or "Worked on product development" are keyword vacuums. They tell the recruiter almost nothing and use up space that should carry quantified achievements. Every bullet point should answer: what did you do, at what scale, with what result?
[Action verb] + [what you did] + [at what scale/scope] + [measured result]. Example: "Reduced customer complaint resolution time by 34% by implementing a three-tier escalation framework across a 12-member support team."
| Element | Keep? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Professional photo | ❌ Remove | ATS parse error, bias risk |
| Declaration | ❌ Remove | Outdated, adds no value |
| Father's name | ❌ Remove | Irrelevant to hiring |
| Date of birth | ❌ Remove | Age discrimination risk |
| Religion/Caste | ❌ Remove | Legal risk, irrelevant |
| 10th marks (if experienced) | ❌ Remove | Irrelevant after degree |
| Objective statement | ❌ Remove → Replace with Summary | Self-focused, not employer-focused |
| Generic hobbies | ❌ Remove | Zero differentiation |
| References available on request | ❌ Remove | Implied, no value |
| Full street address | ❌ City only | Privacy, unnecessary |
| Professional summary | ✅ Keep / Add | Critical ATS and recruiter signal |
| Quantified achievements | ✅ Keep / Add | Differentiates you from hundreds |
| Industry keywords | ✅ Keep / Add | Core ATS ranking factor |
No. Photos should not be included on Indian resumes in 2026. ATS systems flag image data as a format error and may misparse surrounding text. The only exception is for acting, modelling, and certain hospitality roles where appearance is a direct job requirement.
No. The declaration section is completely outdated and should be removed from all Indian resumes. It takes up valuable space, adds no information, and is a strong signal to recruiters that your resume format is from 10+ years ago.
Only if you are a fresher with no degree completed yet. For anyone with a completed degree and 2+ years of work experience, 10th and 12th marks should be removed entirely. They add no value to your application and take space that could hold achievements and keywords.
Remove generic hobbies like reading, travelling, and listening to music. Only include a hobby if it is directly relevant to the role — such as blogging for a content role, open-source contributions for a developer role, or competitive sports for a leadership-focused role.
Remove: father's name, mother's name, religion, caste, Aadhar number, passport number, and blood group. Your Indian resume should only include name, phone, professional email, LinkedIn URL, and city.
