Writing Tips 8 min read
Resume Mistakes to Avoid
Mistake 1: No Quantified Achievements
The #1 resume mistake is listing responsibilities instead of achievements. "Managed social media accounts" tells nothing. "Grew Instagram following from 5K to 85K in 12 months, generating $200K in attributable revenue" is memorable. For every bullet, ask: "How much? How many? How fast? By what percentage?"
Mistake 2: One Resume for Every Job
Sending the same resume to every application is like wearing a tuxedo to a beach party. Tailor your resume for each role: adjust your summary, reorder skills to match the job posting, and emphasize the most relevant experience. You don't need to rewrite everything — just adjust 20-30% of the content. Our keyword matcher tool makes this easy.
Mistake 3: Too Long or Too Short
Recent graduates with a 2-page resume are padding. Senior executives with 1 page are cutting critical experience. Rule of thumb: 1 page for 0-10 years of experience, 2 pages for 10+ years. Anything over 2 pages is almost never appropriate (exceptions: academic CVs, federal resumes). Fill the space you use — a half-page resume looks incomplete.
Mistake 4: Unprofessional Email or Missing LinkedIn
hotguy2003@yahoo.com is not getting a callback. Use firstname.lastname@gmail.com. Include your LinkedIn URL (customized, not the default random string). If you're in tech, include GitHub. If you're in design, include your portfolio. Every contact detail is a signal of professionalism.
Mistake 5: Ignoring ATS Formatting
Creative templates with graphics, tables, and columns look great on screen but get shredded by ATS parsers. Use clean, single-column layouts with standard fonts and headings. Test your resume by pasting it into a plain text editor — if the content is scrambled, ATS will scramble it too. Our templates are designed to be both attractive and ATS-compatible.
More Common Mistakes
Other resume killers: Including "References available upon request" (it's assumed), listing every job since high school (keep last 10-15 years), typos and grammatical errors (instant rejection for detail-oriented roles), including a photo (in the US, it causes bias concerns), using first person "I" (just start with the action verb), and including salary information (negotiate later).
Put This Into Practice
Build your resume with our free builder — ATS-optimized templates, real-time scoring, and instant PDF download.
Start Your Resume →