Avoid the small but common mistakes that send great resumes straight to the rejection pile, even when the candidate is clearly qualified.
Most rejected resumes are not rejected because the candidate is unqualified. They are rejected because of small, fixable mistakes that signal carelessness or make the recruiter's job harder. Here are the ten that come up most often.
If your resume opens with 'seeking a challenging position to leverage my skills', delete it and write a focused summary instead. Generic objectives waste your most valuable space.
Anyone in your role had the same duties. What set you apart is what you accomplished. Replace 'managed marketing campaigns' with 'launched four marketing campaigns that drove 1.2M in pipeline'.
Inconsistent dates, fonts, bullet styles, or spacing tells the reader you didn't proofread. Pick one format and apply it everywhere.
In the US, UK, Canada, and Australia, photos can introduce bias and many recruiters are trained to skip resumes that include them. Skip the headshot.
Lead with what is most recent and most relevant to the role you want, not what you are most proud of from years ago.
'Strong communicator' tells the reader nothing. Show communication skills through your bullets — presentations delivered, deals closed, papers published.
A single typo can disqualify you for a detail-oriented role. Read your resume out loud, then have someone else read it.
If you have under ten years of experience, one page is almost always the right length. Recruiters appreciate brevity.
Anything older than 10-15 years should be summarized or removed unless it is uniquely relevant. The same goes for short-term roles that don't add to your story.
Save your resume as 'firstname-lastname-resume.pdf' — not 'Resume_v17_FINAL_use_this_one.pdf'. The recruiter sees the file name before they see your work.