The way to do that is not to disqualify yourself on paper by providing too much extraneous information that doesn't add to your qualifications in any way.
Most personal information is considered privileged anyway and cannot be used to make a hiring decision under the Equal Employment Opportunity laws. Race, creed, ethnic origin (citizenship or legal entry are required questions), gender, health, height, weight, and general physical appearance may not be used to make a hiring decision. There are some exceptions to this rule, generally in some federal agencies, but most companies do not even ask the questions.
If a company asks you your age and then fails to hire you, you might assume the only reason you were not selected was because you were too old or too young. You then might have a case to sue for discrimination. The interesting point is that if you provided a resume including any personal information, you would never know why the company did not call you. Even if the recruiter did use some discriminatory screening process, you would never know it. The solution is not to include information that is not needed to determine your qualifications.
Some examples of items to keep off your resume:
Photos
One of the latest innovations in resume preparation that has recently appeared is the reproduction of a photograph on the resume itself. The problem is that your idea of what is attractive may not be the same as that of the recruiter. In fact, you might be ugly as sin and not even know it! Pictures don't add to your qualifications (unless you are an actor or a model-or look like one).
Clubs
You may be proud that you are an active member of a fraternal or civic organization. But certain fraternal and civic organizations discriminate in membership requirements. Some recent court cases attest to that fact. The person reading your resume could have been refused membership in the organization, or may belong to another organization with opposing views. This could mean you wouldn't get called.
Height and Weight
You might be very proud of the fact that you are 5'2", eyes of blue, and weigh 175 pounds. But the recruiter reading your resume might hate to look at short, fat guys. You wouldn't get called.
Smoking
The latest hot issue in the employment industry is the smoking problem. 73 percent of companies recently surveyed by a national publication indicated that if an applicant smoked during the interview it would reflect unfavorably on the hiring decision. Does that mean you should indicate on your resume that you are a nonsmoker? How can you be sure the recruiter doesn't smoke? One corporate recruiter we know only uses one match a day-to light his first of an unbroken chain of cigarettes. This person is sick of hearing others nag him to quit, and he is not interested in bringing more nonsmokers on to the staff. Smokers go to the top of his Mike-it pile.
Marital Status
Marital status obviously has nothing to do with your ability to perform a job. Some people don't see it that way. For example, a married person is considered to be stable, a divorced person unstable. A single person might be stable or unstable (they might get married and move). Many of us have seen this sort of closed-minded thinking while in the service.
Along the same lines, children do not add to or detract from your abilities, so an entry that states that you have "three wonderful children, aged 10, 12, and 14" generally will not get your resume to the top of the pile. Further, single parents are sometimes perceived to be a potential problem because they might have to run off to care for their children. In reality, those of us in the military have seen that single parents are generally better time managers than people in two-parent families. They have to be. But they might not get an opportunity to prove it unless they get called for the interview.
