10 Resume Mistakes That Are Costing You Interviews (And How to Fix Them)

You have sent out dozens of applications. Your experience is solid. You know you are qualified. Yet the interviews simply are not coming. The problem might not be your qualifications at all -- it could be your resume.

Recruiters spend an average of six to seven seconds scanning a CV before deciding whether to read further. In that tiny window, even small resume mistakes can send your application straight to the rejection pile. The good news? Most common CV errors are surprisingly easy to fix once you know what to look for.

Here are ten resume mistakes that could be costing you interviews, along with concrete before-and-after examples so you can put things right today.

1. Using a Generic Objective Statement

The objective statement was once a CV staple, but a vague, self-centred one does nothing for you in today's job market. Recruiters do not care that you are "seeking a challenging role." They want to know what you bring to the table.

Why it hurts: A generic objective tells the hiring manager nothing specific about your value. It wastes prime real estate at the top of the page -- the spot their eyes land first.

Before:

"Seeking a challenging position in a dynamic organisation where I can utilise my skills and grow professionally."

After:

"Results-driven marketing specialist with 5+ years of experience driving brand awareness and lead generation for B2B SaaS companies. Increased qualified leads by 140% at TechCo through targeted content strategy and paid media optimisation."

Replace the objective with a professional summary that highlights your key achievements and the specific value you offer. Two to three sentences is all you need. Our step-by-step resume writing guide walks you through crafting an effective summary and every other section of your resume.

2. Failing to Include Metrics and Numbers

Your resume should prove your impact, not just list your duties. One of the most damaging resume mistakes is writing vague descriptions that could apply to anyone who has ever held your job title.

Why it hurts: Without numbers, your accomplishments lack credibility and context. A recruiter cannot tell whether you managed a team of three or three hundred.

Before:

"Managed social media accounts and increased engagement."

After:

"Managed four social media channels for a 10,000-follower brand, increasing engagement rate by 65% and driving 1,200 monthly website visits within six months."

Wherever possible, quantify your results. Think revenue, percentages, time saved, team size, budget managed, or customer satisfaction scores.

3. Letting Typos and Grammatical Errors Slip Through

This one sounds obvious, yet it remains one of the most common CV errors recruiters encounter. A single typo can undermine an otherwise strong application because it signals carelessness.

Why it hurts: Studies show that 77% of hiring managers immediately disqualify candidates with spelling or grammatical errors. If you cannot proofread a one-page document about yourself, employers worry about the quality of your work.

Before:

"Expereinced project manger with a prooven track record of deliverring results on time and under buget."

After:

"Experienced project manager with a proven track record of delivering results on time and under budget."

Read your CV aloud. Use a spell checker. Then ask a friend or colleague to review it with fresh eyes. Tools like CV Artisan can also help you build a polished, error-free resume from the start, so you spend less time worrying about formatting slip-ups and more time tailoring your content.

4. Choosing the Wrong CV Format

Not every resume format works for every situation. Using a chronological layout when you have significant career gaps, or a functional format when the employer specifically wants to see your career progression, can work against you.

Why it hurts: The wrong format obscures your strengths instead of highlighting them. Recruiters get frustrated when they cannot quickly find the information they need.

Before (career changer using a strict chronological format):

Lists ten years of unrelated hospitality roles with no connection to the target data analyst position.

After (hybrid format for the same career changer):

Leads with a skills-based summary showcasing transferable analytical abilities, then follows with a concise work history that highlights relevant data projects from each role.

Quick guide:

• Chronological -- best for steady career progression in one field
• Functional -- best for career changers or those with gaps (use sparingly, as some recruiters dislike it)
• Hybrid/combination -- best all-rounder, especially if you want to lead with skills

5. Making Your Resume Too Long

Unless you are an academic submitting a full CV or a senior executive with 20+ years of leadership, your resume should almost certainly be one page -- two at the absolute maximum.

Why it hurts: Lengthy resumes dilute your strongest achievements. Recruiters do not have the time to hunt through four pages of experience to find the gems.

Before:

A three-page resume listing every role since a weekend job at sixteen, including detailed descriptions of responsibilities from fifteen years ago.

After:

A focused one-page resume highlighting the last ten years of experience, with the most relevant roles given the most space and older positions condensed into a single line each.

Be ruthless. If a bullet point does not support your application for this specific role, cut it.

6. Including Irrelevant Information

Your CV is a marketing document, not an autobiography. Including hobbies, personal details, or outdated experience that has no bearing on the target role wastes space and muddles your message.

Why it hurts: Irrelevant information distracts from your qualifications. Worse, some details -- such as age, marital status, or a photograph (in many markets) -- can introduce unconscious bias.

Before:

"Hobbies: reading, watching football, cooking, travelling. Marital status: married. Date of birth: 14 March 1990."

After:

Removed entirely, replaced with an additional achievement bullet: "Designed and launched employee onboarding programme that reduced new-hire ramp-up time by 30%."

Only include hobbies or interests if they are directly relevant to the role (e.g., listing open-source contributions when applying for a software engineering position).

7. Ignoring Keywords from the Job Description

Many organisations use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to filter resumes before a human ever sees them. If your CV does not contain the right keywords, it may be rejected automatically, regardless of your qualifications.

Why it hurts: An ATS scans for specific terms -- job titles, skills, certifications, tools. A perfectly qualified candidate can be filtered out simply because they used "people management" instead of "team leadership" (or vice versa).

Before:

"Responsible for overseeing team output and handling client relationships."

After:

"Led a cross-functional team of 12, managing stakeholder relationships and delivering projects using Agile methodology, Jira, and Confluence."

Read the job advert carefully. Identify the key skills, tools, and phrases it uses, then mirror that language naturally in your resume. Do not keyword-stuff -- integrate the terms into genuine descriptions of your experience. For a comprehensive look at how ATS software works and how to optimise your CV for it, see our guide on how to beat applicant tracking systems.

8. Poor Visual Formatting and Layout

A wall of text, inconsistent fonts, misaligned bullet points, or overly creative designs can all make your CV difficult to read. Recruiters value clarity above all else.

Why it hurts: If your resume is hard to scan, it will not be scanned at all. Visual clutter creates friction, and friction leads to rejection.

Before:

Multiple font styles, three different bullet point types, inconsistent spacing, and a colour scheme that makes text hard to read on screen or in print.

After:

A clean, consistent layout using one professional font (such as Calibri, Garamond, or Helvetica), clear section headings, uniform bullet points, and generous white space. Section dividers or subtle colour accents are used sparingly to guide the eye.

Resume tips like this are where a good template makes all the difference. Rather than wrestling with formatting in a word processor, consider using a purpose-built tool like CV Artisan that handles layout, spacing, and ATS compatibility for you, so you can focus entirely on your content.

9. Missing or Incomplete Contact Information

It sounds almost too simple to get wrong, but missing contact details are a surprisingly common CV error. If a recruiter cannot reach you, your perfect resume is worthless.

Why it hurts: A missing phone number, an outdated email address, or a broken LinkedIn URL means the recruiter moves on to the next candidate without a second thought.

Before:

Name at the top. No phone number. An old university email address that is no longer active. No LinkedIn profile.

After:

Isaac Thompson | isaac.thompson@email.com | +44 7700 900123 | linkedin.com/in/isaacthompson | London, UK

Make sure your header includes:

• Full name
• Professional email address (avoid novelty handles)
• Phone number with country code if applying internationally
• LinkedIn profile URL (customise it to remove the random string of numbers)
• City and country (full street address is no longer necessary)

10. Sending the Same Resume to Every Job

This is arguably the most important point on the list. Sending a one-size-fits-all resume is one of the biggest resume mistakes job seekers make, and it dramatically reduces your chances.

Why it hurts: Every job has different requirements, and a generic resume will only ever be a partial match. Recruiters can tell instantly when a CV has not been tailored -- it feels vague and unfocused.

Before:

The same resume sent to a product management role, a marketing coordinator role, and a business analyst role, with a broad summary that tries to cover all three.

After (for the product management role):

A targeted resume with a summary emphasising product strategy and roadmap ownership, bullet points highlighting user research, sprint planning, and cross-functional collaboration, and metrics focused on product adoption and revenue impact.

For each application:

1. Re-read the job description and highlight the top five requirements.
2. Reorder your bullet points so the most relevant achievements appear first.
3. Adjust your professional summary to speak directly to the role.
4. Mirror the language and keywords the employer uses.

Yes, it takes more time. But five tailored applications will outperform fifty generic ones every single time.

Quick-Reference Checklist

Before you hit send on your next application, run through this checklist:

• [ ] Professional summary instead of a generic objective
• [ ] Quantified achievements with real numbers
• [ ] Zero typos or grammatical errors
• [ ] Appropriate format for your career stage
• [ ] One to two pages maximum
• [ ] No irrelevant personal information
• [ ] Keywords from the job description included naturally
• [ ] Clean, consistent, ATS-friendly formatting
• [ ] Complete and up-to-date contact information
• [ ] Content tailored to the specific role

Final Thoughts

Most resume mistakes are not about a lack of experience or ability. They are about presentation. The difference between a CV that gets interviews and one that gets ignored often comes down to clarity, relevance, and attention to detail.

The encouraging thing is that every mistake on this list is fixable -- many of them in under an hour. Start with the changes that apply most to your current resume, work through them methodically, and you will likely see a noticeable improvement in your response rate.

Your experience deserves to be seen. Make sure your resume is not the thing standing in the way.