Resume mistakes to avoid: common errors recruiters flag and how to fix them

Generic objective statements and weak summaries

A summary that says 'results-driven professional seeking a challenging role' tells a recruiter nothing. It wastes the first five lines of your resume, which are the lines most likely to be read.

Replace a vague objective with a three-line professional summary that names your job title, your years of relevant experience, and one or two specific things you have delivered. For example: 'Financial analyst with six years in SaaS companies. Reduced monthly close time from 12 days to 7 by rebuilding the reconciliation workflow in NetSuite. Currently seeking a senior FP&A role in a Series B or later company.' That summary answers the recruiter's first question: is this person relevant?

• Name your actual job title, not a vague category like 'business professional'
• Include one measurable result in the summary itself
• Match the job title in your summary to the title in the posting where it is accurate

Burying or omitting measurable results

Recruiters read dozens of resumes that list duties rather than outcomes. 'Responsible for managing social media accounts' describes a task. 'Grew Instagram following from 4,200 to 31,000 in 14 months by shifting to short-form video' describes a result. The second version is far harder to ignore.

Go through every bullet point and ask: what changed because I did this? If you cannot find a number, use a range, a percentage, or a before-and-after comparison. If the work was confidential, use approximate figures or describe the scale without naming the client.

• Use the formula: action verb + what you did + the result or scale
• Acceptable approximations: 'reduced costs by roughly 20%', 'managed a portfolio of around 40 accounts'
• If you have no numbers yet, ask a former manager or check old performance reviews

Formatting that breaks applicant tracking systems

Most large employers in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia use an applicant tracking system to parse resumes before a human sees them. Headers, footers, tables, text boxes, and graphics often cause parsing errors that strip out your contact details or scramble your work history.

Use a single-column layout with standard section headings: Work Experience, Education, Skills. Save the file as a PDF unless the posting specifically asks for a Word document. Avoid putting your phone number or email only in a header, because some parsers skip headers entirely. Keep fonts to one or two standard choices such as Calibri, Arial, or Georgia at 10 to 12 points.

• No tables, text boxes, or columns for your main content
• No photos, logos, or icons anywhere on the document
• Contact details in the body of the document, not only in the header
• File name: FirstnameLastname-Resume.pdf, not 'My Resume Final v3.pdf'

Wrong length and irrelevant content

A common rule of thumb is one page per decade of relevant experience, with a two-page maximum for most roles. A three-page resume for a mid-level marketing manager is almost always too long. A one-page resume for a director with 18 years of experience is too short.

Cut anything older than 15 years unless it is directly relevant to the role. Remove part-time jobs from high school or university unless you are a recent graduate with little else to show. Remove the line 'References available upon request' because it is assumed and wastes space. Do not list every tool you have ever touched; list the ones that appear in the job posting or that you can speak to confidently in an interview.

Tailoring failures: sending the same resume everywhere

Sending one resume to every job is one of the most common and most damaging mistakes. Recruiters can tell when a resume has not been adjusted for the role. The skills section lists things the job does not require. The summary mentions an industry the company is not in. Keywords from the posting are absent.

At minimum, adjust your summary, reorder your skills to match the posting, and swap in the exact job title from the posting where it is accurate. If the posting says 'customer success manager' and your resume says 'client services lead', change it if that was genuinely your role. Do not fabricate titles, but do use the language the employer uses.

Break-In Bad's resume enhancement feature can help here. Omar reads your existing resume, asks up to 20 questions about your experience, and rewrites it to match the specific job you are applying for, using only facts you confirm. Every line is checked against what you said, and your original is kept. This removes the manual work of tailoring without putting words in your mouth.

Typos, inconsistencies, and contact errors

A typo in the first paragraph signals carelessness to a recruiter. A wrong phone number or a broken LinkedIn URL means they cannot reach you even if they want to. These are the easiest mistakes to fix and the most embarrassing to leave in.

After you finish editing, read the resume out loud from bottom to top. This forces you to read each word individually rather than skimming. Then paste the text into a fresh document and read it again. Check that your LinkedIn URL works, your email address is professional, and your phone number has the correct country code if you are applying internationally. Dates should follow one consistent format throughout, such as Jan 2022 or 01/2022, not both.

• Read bottom to top to catch typos your brain autocorrects
• Click every link before you send
• Use one date format throughout the entire document
• Make sure your email address is professional, not a nickname from 2009