Resume Mistakes That Are Costing You Interviews

We've watched a lot of resumes get scored. The same mistakes keep landing strong candidates in the rejection pile. Here are the eight worth fixing today.

1. Duty-driven bullets

If your bullet would also describe the next person hired into your role, it's not yours. Replace 'responsible for X' with 'shipped X that did Y'.

2. Job titles that don't match the JD's language

ATS systems weight title-keyword overlap heavily. Bridge mismatches with a parenthetical. 'Software Developer (Software Engineer, full-stack)' parses cleanly.

3. No numbers anywhere

Resumes without quantification feel hand-wavy. Even rough estimates ('reduced load time ~3x') beat 'improved performance.'

4. Skills you can't use in an interview

If you list 'Kubernetes' and an interviewer asks how a Pod becomes Pending, you should have an answer. Be honest about depth.

5. Two pages when you have under 8 years experience

Recruiters read in order. Page 2 of a junior resume rarely gets read. Cut.

6. Generic objective statements

'Seeking a challenging role at a forward-thinking company' is invisible. If you must include a summary, make it specific to the role: '4 years building React components used across 3 product teams. Looking for an IC role on a design-systems team.'

7. Missing role-specific keywords

This is the #1 silent killer. The ATS rates you against the JD's keyword set. If 'GraphQL' is in the JD three times and never on your resume — even though you've used it — you score lower.

8. Inconsistent tense and formatting

Past roles in past tense. Current role in present tense. Bullet punctuation, date formats, and bolding consistent throughout. Sloppiness signals sloppiness.

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