Resume Mistakes to Avoid.

Content mistakes

• Sending the same resume to every job. Adjust the summary, the skills and the order of your bullets to each ad.
• Listing duties without results.
• A vague summary made of adjectives.
• Including everything you've ever done. Keep what helps for this job.
• Leaving out the keywords the ad uses for skills you do have.

Spelling and wording mistakes

Spell-check doesn't catch "manger" for "manager". Read the page aloud, or from the bottom up, and ask one other person to read it.

• Typos and grammar errors, especially in job titles and company names.
• Tenses that switch within one job.
• Buzzwords: "synergy", "go-getter", "think outside the box".
• Long sentences where a short bullet would do.

Formatting mistakes

• Text in tables, text boxes, headers or images, which some applicant tracking systems skip.
• Skill bars and star ratings in place of words.
• Tiny fonts and squeezed margins to force everything onto one page.
• Several fonts, colours and bullet styles on the same page.
• A scanned or image PDF with no selectable text.

Date and consistency mistakes

• Missing dates, or a mix of formats such as "March 2021" and "03/21".
• Overlaps and gaps with no explanation.
• Years of experience in the summary that the work history doesn't cover.
• A headline more senior than your latest job title.
• A resume that disagrees with your LinkedIn profile.

Contact and sending mistakes

• An old phone number, or a typo in your email address.
• An unprofessional email address.
• Links that are broken or need a login.
• A file called "resume-final-v3.pdf". Use your name and the role.
• Another company's name left in the summary or cover letter.