15 Common Resume Mistakes (And How to Fix Each One)
· 5 min read
The most common resume mistakes are typos, listing duties instead of achievements, dense formatting that recruiters skip, and design choices that break applicant tracking systems. According to The Ladders' 2018 eye-tracking study, recruiters spend an average of just 7.4 seconds on an initial resume scan. At that speed, every mistake below costs you disproportionately. Here are all 15, each with a specific fix.
1. Typos and grammatical errors
A single typo can sink an otherwise strong application, because it signals carelessness on the one document you had unlimited time to polish.
The fix: Read your resume out loud, then read it bottom-to-top so your brain can't autocomplete sentences. Finally, ask one other person to proofread it. Spellcheck alone misses "manger" for "manager."
2. Listing duties instead of achievements
"Responsible for social media accounts" tells a recruiter what your job description said, not what you actually did. Harvard's Mignone Center for Career Success recommends starting bullets with strong action verbs and quantifying results wherever possible.
The fix: Rewrite each bullet as action verb + what you did + measurable result.
- Before: "Responsible for managing company social media accounts"
- After: "Grew Instagram following 40% in six months by launching a weekly video series"
For more rewrites like this, see our guide to writing resume bullet points.
3. An unprofessional email address
"partyanimal2004@..." undermines everything above it. Recruiters do notice.
The fix: Create a free address using some combination of your first and last name. Two minutes of effort, permanent credibility.
4. An objective statement from 2005
"Seeking a challenging position where I can utilize my skills" wastes the most valuable real estate on the page saying nothing.
The fix: Replace the objective with a two-to-three-line professional summary that states your title, years of experience, and one signature achievement. See resume summary examples for templates you can adapt.
5. Dense walls of text
Paragraphs of prose don't survive a 7.4-second scan. Recruiters read bullets; they skip blocks.
The fix: Convert every paragraph into 3–5 bullets, each one to two lines long. If a bullet wraps to a third line, cut it in half or delete the weakest clause.
6. Tiny fonts and razor-thin margins
Shrinking to 8pt text with 0.2-inch margins to cram everything onto one page makes the whole document unreadable, on screen and in print.
The fix: Keep body text at 10–12pt and margins between 0.5 and 1 inch, then cut content until it fits. Our guide to resume fonts, margins, and design rules covers the specifics.
7. Photos on US resumes
In the United States, a headshot creates discrimination-liability concerns, and some employers will discard photo resumes outright. Norms differ abroad, but for US applications a photo only hurts.
The fix: Remove the photo. If you want a visual presence, link to a polished LinkedIn profile instead.
8. "References available upon request"
Everyone knows references are available upon request. This line spends space stating the obvious.
The fix: Delete it. Use the reclaimed line for one more achievement bullet. Prepare a separate references document to send only when asked.
9. Inconsistent date formats
"Jan 2023 – Present" in one job, "3/2021 to 12/2022" in the next. Inconsistency reads as sloppiness and can confuse automated parsers.
The fix: Pick one format ("Jan 2023 – Present" is safe and parser-friendly) and apply it to every entry: jobs, education, certifications.
10. Lying or exaggerating
Inflated titles, invented degrees, and stretched dates get caught in background checks, and the consequences (rescinded offers, terminations) far outlast the interview.
The fix: Tell the truth, framed well. If you led a project informally, write "Led a 4-person project team," which is accurate and still impressive, rather than inventing a "Manager" title. If you're worried about gaps, address them honestly using strategies from our employment gaps guide.
11. Keyword stuffing
Pasting the job description's keywords in white text, or listing 45 skills, can trip spam detection and definitely irritates the human who reads it next.
The fix: Weave 6–10 genuinely relevant keywords from the posting into your summary, skills section, and bullets, in context. "Built dashboards in Tableau for 12 stakeholders" beats a bare "Tableau" ten times over.
12. Sending one resume to every job
A generic resume matches no job well. No single edit pays off more than tailoring.
The fix: For each application, spend 15 minutes mirroring the posting's language in your summary and reordering bullets so the most relevant ones come first. Our tailoring guide walks through the process step by step.
13. Fancy graphics that break ATS
Skill-rating bars, icons, text boxes, headshots, and two-column layouts often turn into garbage when an applicant tracking system parses them. MIT Career Advising & Professional Development recommends simple, cleanly formatted resumes for exactly this reason.
The fix: Use a single-column layout with standard section headings and real text (no images of text). If you're unsure whether yours parses cleanly, check whether your resume is ATS-friendly.
14. Missing or buried contact information
Some candidates forget their phone number; others hide their email in a header that parsers can't read.
The fix: Put your name, city and state, phone, email, and LinkedIn URL at the top of the document body, not inside a header or footer element. Double-check every character of your email and phone number.
15. Outdated or filler skills
"Microsoft Word," "typing," and software discontinued a decade ago tell recruiters your skills section hasn't been touched in years.
The fix: Audit your skills section for every application. Keep only skills that are (a) current, (b) relevant to the target job, and (c) ones you could discuss in an interview tomorrow. See which skills to put on a resume for a role-by-role breakdown.
How do I check my resume for all of these at once?
Run this five-minute audit before every submission:
| Check | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Content | Achievements with numbers, no duties, no lies |
| Language | Zero typos, consistent tense, strong verbs |
| Format | 10–12pt font, 0.5–1" margins, one column, consistent dates |
| ATS | No graphics, no text boxes, contact info in the body |
| Fit | Keywords from this specific posting, most relevant bullets first |
If all five rows pass, your resume is ahead of the vast majority of the pile.
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