Recruiters spend 6–10 seconds on an initial resume scan. These mistakes get your application discarded before you get a fair chance.
Content mistakes
- Typos and grammar errors — signal carelessness
- Duty-only bullets — "Managed emails" instead of results achieved
- Generic summary — not tailored to the role
- Lying or exaggerating — background checks expose this
- Including every job since high school — clutters the narrative
Formatting mistakes
- Dense paragraphs instead of scannable bullets
- Inconsistent date formats (Jan 2024 vs 01/2024 vs 2024)
- Tiny fonts or cramped margins to fit too much
- Color-heavy designs that fail ATS parsing
Strategy mistakes
- Sending the same resume to every job
- Ignoring keywords from the job description
- Wrong file type or corrupted PDF
- Unprofessional email address (coolboy99@...)