When you apply for a job, there’s a good chance your resume is going up against hundreds of other applications. Making your resume stand out from the crowd is hard enough at the best of times, but if you fall into the trap of common resume mistakes, you can kiss your chances goodbye. Failing to tailor your resume content, fixating on irrelevant information or listing duties and responsibilities that won’t differentiate you from other candidates can all severely hamper your job prospects.
If you don’t spot and correct these, it can be all too easy to keep making the same mistakes and wonder why your applications continue to fall at the first hurdle. Thankfully, with a little care and attention, you can cut out the most glaring resume errors and ensure your application gives you the best chance of progressing to the interview stage. So let’s take a look at some of the most common resume mistakes job applicants make, and equip you with everything you need to fix them.
1. Failing to tailor your resume
If you’re applying for jobs regularly, it can become a very time-consuming process. It can be tempting to write a single high-quality resume and use it for multiple applications, helping you maximize the number of applications you get out. However, this is almost always counterproductive and means your resume will lack the detailed, tailored information that shows employers you have the skills, experience and industry knowledge for the job.
How to fix this:
- Take the time to carefully tailor each job application to the role and organization.
- Reduce the number of applications you send, giving you more time to target the roles you fit best and dedicate your efforts to ensuring you submit a quality application.
- Compare your resume to the job description and ensure you include matching keywords and phrases.
- Reference the organization in your resume summary, explaining what appeals to you about the role and the company.
1. Listing irrelevant information
Linked to the point above about tailoring your resume, listing information in your application that’s not relevant to the role will waste valuable space in your document while adding nothing to your chances of success. It can be tempting to add less relevant information to your resume when you’re at the start of your career and you lack industry experience, as it can help flesh out a resume that might otherwise look a little threadbare. However, when recruiters and employers have precious little time to review resumes, the sight of irrelevant information can be a quick turnoff.
How to fix this:
- List only previous work experience that’s related to the role you’re applying for.
- If you need to include unrelated work experience, tailor your bullet points to highlight soft or transferable skills you can apply to the role.
- If you lack relevant work experience, focus on relevant skills you gained or developed in other areas, such as education, volunteering or hobbies.
- Review the job description and cut any resume content that doesn’t help you prove you’re a good fit for the role.
2. Making it too long
An overlong resume can make it more difficult for recruiters to pick out the key details from your application at a glance. Being undisciplined when writing your application can leave your resume lacking focus and impact, making for a less-engaging read for the recruiter, where they might struggle to assess your key qualities and strengths.
How to fix this:
- Edit your resume down to the bare essentials that show the most relevant skills and achievements from previous roles, to indicate your likely future performance.
- Aim for a resume length of up to two sides of paper. If you can say all you need in one side, this is all the better.
- Shorten sentences, use bullet points and use implied first-person perspective (omitting “I” from sentences).
3. Focusing on responsibilities
You might wish to explain your everyday tasks and responsibilities from previous jobs, to give employers an indication that you know the industry and have what it takes for the job. However, you’ll probably find that most applicants have a similar skill set and employment history to you. As such, focusing on responsibilities in your work experience section will do little to differentiate you from the candidate field.
How to fix this:
- For each previous job on your resume, add bullet points focusing on your key skills and achievements, rather than responsibilities.
- Pick key skills that match the job description, and showcase how each of them helped you to an achievement that made an impact for the organization.
- Quantify each achievement with evidence such as key performance metrics or financial figures, to show the value you added.
4. Lying or exaggerating
If you’re nervous that other candidates might have better qualifications or experience, you might be tempted to exaggerate or include minor untruths to boost your fit for the role. This could include overstating your previous achievements, making your career history appear more relevant or simply omitting career gaps. However, lying or exaggerating will almost always come back to haunt you, whether at the interview stage or when you actually need to perform in the role. In some cases it can also be fraudulent, leaving you open to legal proceedings.
How to fix this:
- Be honest and transparent about your experience and qualifications.
- Explain career gaps, either in your resume or in your cover letter.
- If you’re short on relevant experience or qualifications, emphasize your skills instead.
- Rather than competing with candidates who might have more experience, talk up your unique qualities and strengths that help you stand out.
5. Fussy formatting and design
In an effort to make your resume stand out, you might enhance your document with design features, graphics and color accents. While an attractive, professional CV design can help you catch the eye of the recruiter, if you’re untrained in the principles of design, your efforts could harm your chances of success. Overzealous resume design can throw off document formatting, make your application harder to read and even reduce its compatibility with ATS software, meaning your application is less likely to pass initial screening.
How to fix this:
- Opt for a clean, unfussy resume design with subtle design elements.
- Reduce or omit graphics and visual elements that can distract the reader and make your resume less compatible with ATS software.
- Select a clear, readable font from standard serif or sans serif collections, and use size 10 to 12 for body text and 14 to 16 for headings.
- Be aware of color contrast, using black text on white or light backgrounds, and white text on dark backgrounds (ensuring a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1).
- If you’re unfamiliar with graphic design principles or software, keep your resume layout as simple as possible.
6. Adding unnecessary personal information
Listing personal information on your resume might actually jeopardize your chances of job application success. In some countries, anti-discrimination laws prohibit employers from making recruitment decisions based on personal characteristics. These might include gender, age, religion, ethnicity, marital status, disability and various other types of personal information. Recruiters can also risk introducing bias if you include a personal photograph in your resume. Adding these types of personal information to your resume can risk excluding you from the selection process, rendering all the other information on your application redundant, no matter how well-suited you are to the role.
How to fix this:
- Review the anti-discrimination laws in the country you’re applying to work in, to understand what types of personal information to exclude from your resume.
- Search online for information about what’s culturally acceptable, or expected to be on your resume.
- Omit a personal photograph unless it’s specifically required for the role.
- If you’re unsure, keep personal information to a minimum, including just your name and contact details.
7. Making basic errors in spelling and grammar
There’s no excuse for sloppy spelling and grammar in your resume. Leaving spelling mistakes in will give the employer the impression that you’re careless, lack attention to detail and don’t really care about the role. If you submit a resume with basic errors, you’re risking overshadowing all the good experience and relevant skills and achievements you’ve included. In a tight field of candidates, spelling mistakes can also make the difference between gaining that interview and losing out.
How to fix this:
- Run your resume through a spellcheck before submitting it.
- Proofread your resume carefully before sending, to ensure you haven’t missed any words that are spelled correctly, but aren’t the word you intended to use (such as homophones including ‘there’, ‘their’ and ‘they’re’, or ‘to’, ‘too’ and ‘two’).
- Ask someone else to read your resume, preferably with industry experience, so they can identify any misuse of technical language and phrases.
