11 Resume Mistakes That Are Costing You Interviews

Recruiters spend an average of just a few seconds on each résumé. Small mistakes get you cut quickly. The good news: nearly all of them are easy to fix once you know what to look for.

The mistakes — and the fixes

1. Listing duties instead of achievements. Fix: lead with results and quantify them ('cut load time 40%').
2. No keywords from the job posting. Fix: mirror the posting's skills and tools where they're true.
3. One résumé for every job. Fix: tailor each application to the specific role.
4. Complex formatting that breaks the ATS. Fix: single column, standard headings, text-based PDF.
5. A vague or missing summary. Fix: a two-line headline naming your role, strengths, and target.
6. Typos and inconsistent tense. Fix: proofread; past roles in past tense, current role in present.
7. Burying recent, relevant experience. Fix: reorder so the most relevant role is on top.
8. Including irrelevant or outdated jobs. Fix: focus on the last 10–15 years and what's relevant.
9. No measurable impact anywhere. Fix: add numbers — percentages, dollars, counts, timeframes.
10. Too long (or too short). Fix: one page for most, two for senior/extensive experience.
11. An unprofessional email or missing links. Fix: use a clean email and add LinkedIn/portfolio.

Fix them all at once

RésuméBoost catches most of these automatically — it quantifies weak bullets, injects the right keywords, enforces clean ATS-friendly formatting, and scores your résumé so you can see what's still holding it back.