10 Resume Mistakes That Get You Rejected (and How to Fix Each One)

Most resume advice is vague. "Make it stand out." "Show your personality." "Be concise but thorough."

That is not helpful.

Here are 10 specific mistakes that get resumes rejected, what each one looks like, why it matters, and exactly how to fix it.

Mistake 1: Using a Generic Resume for Every Application

What it looks like: You have one resume saved on your computer. You submit the same file for every job, whether it is a marketing role, a project manager position, or a senior analyst opening.

Why it matters: ATS software scores your resume based on how well it matches the specific job description. A generic resume might match 30% of the keywords. A tailored one can match 70-80%. That difference determines whether your application reaches a human.

Recruiters also notice. If your summary talks about "seeking opportunities in a dynamic environment" instead of mentioning the actual role or company's focus area, they know you mass-applied.

How to fix it: Keep a master resume with all your experience, skills, and achievements. For each application, create a copy and adjust:

• Your summary should reference the specific role type
• Your skills section should prioritize what the job asks for
• Your experience bullets should emphasize the most relevant achievements

This takes 15-20 minutes per application. It is the single most effective thing you can do.

Mistake 2: Listing Duties Instead of Achievements

What it looks like:

• Responsible for managing client accounts
• Handled incoming customer inquiries
• Participated in weekly team meetings
• Assisted with onboarding new employees

Every bullet starts with "responsible for" or "handled" or "assisted with." There are no numbers, no outcomes, no results.

Why it matters: Duty lists tell the recruiter what your job description was. They already know what a marketing coordinator does. What they want to know is how well you did it. What changed because you were there?

How to fix it: For each bullet, ask yourself: "What was the result?" and "Can I put a number on it?"

Before: "Responsible for managing social media accounts."

After: "Managed social media accounts across Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter, growing combined following from 8K to 22K in 12 months."

Before: "Handled customer support tickets."

After: "Resolved an average of 45 customer support tickets per day with a 96% satisfaction rating."

We cover this in detail in our guide to how to get your resume past ATS.

Not every bullet needs a number. But the majority should show some kind of outcome or impact.

Mistake 3: Wrong File Format

What it looks like: You submit a .pages file because you use a Mac. Or you export a beautifully designed resume from Canva as a PDF with embedded graphics. Or you submit a scanned image of a printed resume.

Why it matters: Many ATS systems cannot read .pages files at all. Canva PDFs often contain text-as-image elements that the parser cannot extract. Scanned documents are just pictures, there is no text data for the ATS to analyze.

How to fix it: Submit in DOCX format unless the application specifically requests PDF. If you must use PDF, create it by saving a Word document as PDF, not by exporting from a design tool.

Before submitting, do the copy-paste test: select all text in your document, copy it, paste it into a plain text editor. If the text is readable and in order, the ATS can handle it.

Mistake 4: Missing Keywords From the Job Description

What it looks like: The job requires "experience with Salesforce, HubSpot, and marketing automation." Your resume mentions none of these, even though you have used all three for years. You just described them differently, "CRM tools" or "email platforms."

Why it matters: ATS keyword matching is often literal. "CRM tools" does not match "Salesforce." "Email platforms" does not match "HubSpot." If the system is looking for specific terms and your resume uses different words, your score drops.

How to fix it: Read the job description. List every specific tool, skill, and qualification mentioned. Check your resume for each one. Where there is a gap and you genuinely have the skill, add the exact term they use.

If the posting says "Salesforce" and you used Salesforce, write "Salesforce", not "CRM platform" or "sales software."

Mistake 5: Too Long or Too Short

What it looks like: A fresh graduate submits a 3-page resume padded with high school achievements and every part-time job since age 16. Or a senior professional with 15 years of experience submits a cramped one-pager with tiny fonts and no white space.

Why it matters: Resume length should match your experience level. Too long means the recruiter spends time on irrelevant information. Too short means you are leaving important qualifications off the page.

How to fix it:

• 0-5 years of experience: One page. No exceptions. If you cannot fit it on one page, you are including too much.
• 5-15 years of experience: One to two pages. Two is fine if the content is relevant.
• 15+ years of experience: Two pages, possibly three if you are in academia or a senior executive with extensive relevant history.

Cut anything older than 10-15 years unless it is directly relevant. Remove high school education if you have a college degree. Remove skills that are assumed (Microsoft Word, email).

Mistake 6: Unprofessional Email Address

What it looks like: [email protected]. Or [email protected]. Or [email protected]. These are real examples from recruiters I have talked to.

Why it matters: Your email address is one of the first things a recruiter sees. An unprofessional one creates an immediate negative impression. It helps you to fix and costs nothing.

How to fix it: Create a simple email address with your name. [email protected] is the standard. If that is taken, try [email protected] or [email protected].

Use this email exclusively for job applications.

Mistake 7: Inconsistent Formatting

What it looks like: One job entry uses bold for the company name, the next uses bold for the job title. Dates are formatted as "Jan 2022" in one place and "January 2022" in another. Some bullets use periods at the end, others do not. Font sizes vary randomly.

Why it matters: Inconsistent formatting looks careless. If you are not detail-oriented enough to keep your own resume consistent, why would an employer trust you with their work?

It also confuses ATS parsers. The system identifies a pattern from your first job entry and expects subsequent entries to follow the same pattern. When they do not, parsing errors occur.

How to fix it: Pick one format and apply it to every section.

• Job title formatting: the same everywhere
• Date format: the same everywhere (Month Year or Mon Year)
• Bullet style: the same type throughout
• Period usage: either every bullet ends with one or none do
• Font: one font for body text, optionally a second for headings

For more on this topic, read our guide on resume summary examples that work.

Review your resume once specifically for formatting consistency. Read it looking for differences between sections. This takes 10 minutes and catches most issues.

Mistake 8: Including Irrelevant Experience

What it looks like: You are applying for a software engineering role, and your resume includes your summer job as a lifeguard and your volunteer work organizing church bake sales.

Why it matters: Every irrelevant line pushes relevant information further down or off the page entirely. Recruiters spend roughly 6-7 seconds on an initial resume scan. If the first things they see are not relevant, they move on.

Irrelevant experience also dilutes your ATS keyword density. The more non-relevant content you have, the lower your match percentage for the relevant keywords.

How to fix it: For each line on your resume, ask: "Does this support my application for this specific role?" If the answer is no, cut it.

There are exceptions. If you are early in your career and do not have much relevant experience, non-relevant roles can show work ethic and transferable skills. But frame them in terms of what transfers: customer service, problem-solving, working under pressure.

Once you have 3+ years of relevant experience, previous irrelevant roles should come off your resume entirely.

Mistake 9: No Summary or a Bad One

What it looks like: Either your resume jumps straight from contact info to work experience with no summary. Or your summary reads: "Motivated professional seeking a challenging position where I can use my skills and grow with a forward-thinking organization."

The first version misses an opportunity. The second is a collection of empty phrases that applies to literally everyone.

Why it matters: Your summary is prime space for keywords and first impressions. It is the first text the recruiter reads and the first content the ATS scores. Wasting it on generic filler or skipping it entirely puts you at a disadvantage.

How to fix it: Write a 2-4 sentence summary that includes:

• Your professional identity (job title + years of experience)
• Your most relevant skills for this role (using keywords from the job description)
• A notable achievement or the value you bring
• What type of role you are targeting

Example: "Data analyst with 4 years of experience in e-commerce. Built automated reporting dashboards in Tableau that reduced manual reporting time by 60%. Proficient in SQL, Python, and Excel. Seeking a senior analyst role focused on product analytics."

Specific. Keyword-rich. Takes 15 seconds to read.

Mistake 10: Typos and Grammar Errors

What it looks like: "Managed a team of 5 enginers." "Responsible for developping marketing strategy." "Lead a project to improve customer satisfation." (Those are "engineers," "developing," and "satisfaction.")

Why it matters: Typos signal carelessness. A recruiter seeing a typo thinks: "If they did not proofread their own resume, how careful will they be with our work?"

You might also want to check out our article on our ATS resume checklist.

Some ATS systems also match keywords exactly. "Developping" will not match "developing." A misspelled keyword is a missed keyword.

How to fix it:

1. Run spell check. This catches the obvious errors.
2. Read your resume out loud, word by word. Your ear catches things your eyes skip.
3. Have someone else read it. Fresh eyes find errors you have gone blind to.
4. Read it backwards, sentence by sentence. This forces you to focus on individual sentences instead of flowing through the content.

Do this final proofread after every edit. New edits introduce new typos.

Bringing It All Together

These 10 mistakes cover roughly 90% of the reasons resumes get rejected before reaching an interview. None of them require special skills or expensive tools to fix. They just require attention and time.

If you want a faster way to check your resume for many of these issues, keyword gaps, formatting problems, match scoring, Sira can analyze your resume against a job description quickly and flag what needs fixing.

But even without any tools, you can improve your resume significantly today. Pick the three mistakes from this list that apply to you. Fix them. Then move on to the rest.

A good resume is not about flashy design or clever wording. It is about being clear, relevant, and error-free. Get those three things right and you are ahead of most applicants.

About Sira: Sira is a resume improvement tool that checks your resume for common mistakes, analyzes keyword match rates against job descriptions, and provides actionable suggestions to improve your application.