I read an interesting article today on cnbc.com about a CEO who reads more than 1,000 resumes a year, discussing various items to remove immediately from your CV/Resume. This hit home for me as a dating coach as I want singles to have the best chance possible of meeting that someone special!

As a professional dating consultant, I’ve talked with over 33,000+ singles over the past 20 years about how to best market yourself online, both creatively and truthfully.

So, it may be time to hop online and strike the following off your profile:

Things You Really Do Not Do… Or Think You Will Finally Start Doing This Month

These include things like fencing, competitive swimming, tennis, ice skating, working on a novel, etc. Ok, a few of these refer to the Olympic games, but I find clients love watching sports and immediately think, “Huh, I’m totally going to take up archery or skeet shooting” and suddenly, it appears online as one of their interests!

Fleeting, as it will most likely be forgotten in a month, and do you want to explain yourself when a World Fencing Champion reaches out to you for a date?

Remove These Photos

Any bathroom mirror selfie, car selfie, ANY selfie, a group shot of 8 people (which one is you???), sunglass/hat shots (ok, one is fine), holding a large fish, an upside-down photo (it just makes you look tech challenged), an odd shaped photo you obviously cut someone out of but their hand or arm remains on your shoulder (Who is this? An ex?).

“Fluent in Sarcasm”

If you have any headlines such as the above, remove them! Start with a positive headline – remember that tone can never be heard online – and while you may mean this as being hysterically funny/witty, it most likely will come across as a negative. Once you meet in real life, then let your humor flow!

No Complaints

These can be benign comments like, “My friends think I’m crazy to be online dating because….,” well, you are! It can come across as insecure, and the person reading this will not find this a turn-on. After all, they are doing it too. In the past two years, 1 of 3 married couples met online!

A Political Rant

Not the right place to air your political thoughts! Each site/app will have a question about this and a simple checked box for Independent, Liberal, Conservative etc. is appropriate.

Lies

I know I mention this constantly, but taking your age from 63 to 55 just starts you out with a dishonest relationship. Same goes for height. If you are 5’9”, don’t exaggerate to 5’11”. If you are a few pounds overweight, of course that’s ok – just show flattering photos of you and always a full body shot!

A Generic Opening Line

Many singles never get past the first line on an online dating profile. A line such as “Attractive, Funny, Kind” is a fast swipe left. The best help I can give you on writing an online dating profile is to start with a bang about you!

“Key Lime Cheesecake Ice Cream from Handel’s” certainly made an impression on me. This person, a 66-year-old man, eats and named an extremely specific flavor. He made me smile with that first line, and I read his whole profile!

Another example: I was working with a client this morning, looking at some men I thought she would like, and we both laughed so hard at one man’s opening comment about how intimidating IKEA was – it was cleverly written, and simply different!

Yes, she is pursuing him!

Bonus Tip: Always use spell check or editor before you copy and paste your profile online. This is a first impression of you – not casual texting with your friends who already know and love you!

Which one of these do you currently have on your online dating profile? Do you think they have hindered your ability to find a quality man to date? What will you choose to change about your online dating profile after reading this article?