Your resume does not stand out from the other candidates.

• The 2022 HR Statistics reported that there is an average of 250 resumes received for the typical large organization type-jobs, and recruiters may take only 6 seconds to review your resume (Turczynski, 2022).

Your resume contains job descriptions but no achievements.

• Resumes should not only list your job descriptions but also highlight your achievements:

  • For example, your resume should have some specific details:

    • “Managed a caseload of 35 inmates within the halfway house facility and acted as liaison between the Bureau of Prisons, inmates, and probation and community service providers, resulting in 30 inmates completing their goals and programming to renter society." 

    • “Used skills such as active listening and collaborative problem-solving daily to connect with patients and address concerns after business hours and in partnership with law enforcement while on-call for 16-30 hours per month, resulting in wrap-around services to be offered to individuals from the in-person outreach.”

    • “Presented at three separate conferences on behalf of my company to collaborate and enhance learning techniques, networking, and boost clientele."

You sent a generic resume without tailoring it.

• The information in your resume should be relevant to the position that holds your interest. For example, if a candidate works in two separate job fields of hospitality and entertainment and is applying for a position as a DJ, then the resume sent in for the application should only include jobs relevant to DJ-ing.

  • 54% of recruiters in 2016 stated that not tailoring a resume was the reason for them rejecting an application (Haun, 2020,)

 Your resume is distracting.

• Depending on your career field, the formatting you choose for your resume could create barriers such as colors, the order of your sections, font, spacing, including a picture, and the layout.

 Your resume is too long.

• The average length of a resume should be 1-2 pages for those with ten years of experience. It is important only to include the most relevant information in your resume correlated to the position of interest.

 Your resume has a significant gap in employment that has no explanation.

• It is essential to explain the reason for the gap somewhere in your application, whether attaching a cover letter or filling out the text box found on most job applications. For example, "Is there any additional information you would like for us to know”

  • It is okay to have small gaps of 1-3 months of space where you were not working. Anything more significant than six months should have an explanation.

 Your resume has grammatical errors.

• Spelling and sentence structure is essential. If you need assistance proofreading your resume, click here.

  • An estimated 77% of recruiters in 2018 eliminated applicants due to grammatical errors (Maftean, 2022)

 You have too many jobs /too little time spent at each position.

• It can be a red flag for some companies, and it is essential to edit any positions from your resume that you did not spend at least one year in unless it was a contract or a temporary one. It is okay to have some positions where you did not spend one year, but if you have about eight jobs with little time spent, you may want to consider editing your resume. 

 Your resume is missing the keywords.

• More hiring agencies have gravitated towards using applicant tracking systems (ATS), which require your resume to have certain target words to move forward in the application process. If you need assistance with checking your keywords, click here.

  • About 88% of agencies have added AI technology to assist with the recruitment process (Chang, 2022), such as scoring and screening questions to decide which candidates will move forward in the application process (Gibson et al., 2021).