“Why can’t I get a job?” These common resume mistakes can sabotage your career

It’s a frustration every professional has encountered at some point. Countless applications completed and resumes sent out to seemingly every corner of the business sphere and all you have to show for it is an empty email inbox – or even worse – a steady stream of rejection notices.

If you keep repeating the mantra “why can’t I get a job?” day in and day out, it’s best to start at the beginning, and every successful job search starts with a stellar resume. Avoiding these common resume mistakes can go a long way toward getting the next (or first) phase of your career off to a strong start.

Today’s hiring landscape is more like an obstacle course

The mysterious internal machinations of hiring teams and HR departments from Wall Street to Sunset Boulevard have long mystified embittered job seekers, but today’s hiring market feels especially fickle. Record numbers of applicants nowadays find themselves supremely frustrated amid a sea of “thanks, but no thanks” messages.

U.S. unemployment rates may be hovering around historic lows, and job boards certainly offer no shortage of open positions apparently looking to be filled. Still, it’s never been more difficult for the average applicant to land a mere in-person interview let alone a full-blown job offer. Modern candidates now must contend with AI-powered applicant tracking systems, multiple rounds of skills assessments, and even automated “one-way interviews” in which they’re essentially asked to have a conversation with themselves in front of the computer.

Resume rules still reign supreme

While all of those extra hoops for applicants to jump through on their way to employment are hardly encouraging, the simple fact of the matter is that job candidates won’t even make it to such tasks and hurdles without submitting an engaging, eye-catching resume in the first place.

Indeed, a great resume can open myriad doors for the quintessential job seeker, whether that individual is a seasoned industry veteran boasting decades of experience or a recent college grad eager to make a mark in their chosen field. Unfortunately, a troublingly large number of professionals these days continue to make the same, easily avoidable mistakes while composing their own resumes.

Many may shake their heads at the notion of a small error or arbitrary styling mistake on their resume costing them a great gig, but in many cases that’s all it takes. Here are a few common resume mistakes capable of sabotaging your career.

• Don’t get creative: In most areas of life, a little bit of creativity is a positive – but not when it comes to resumes. Recruiters, HR reps, and hiring managers don’t want to see a rainbow, or really any color besides black, when they take a look at a resume. Avoid flashy design elements like unnecessary colors, columns, and logos.

• No photographs, please: Same advice applies to personal pictures like headshots. Besides pictures generally not being expected on resumes, including an image of yourself opens up the possibility of readers making assumptions about you based solely on your appearance. Instead, let your prior jobs and professional accomplishments speak for themselves.

• Avoid pronouns: A compelling resume never uses pronouns like “I”, “me”, or “she”. Instead, you should begin each sentence/bullet point of your work experience section with an action verb. For example, instead of “I was manager of a team featuring over 30 workers,” go with something like “Led a team of over 30 workers to record Q4 profits.”

• Proofread, then proofread again: This piece of advice may sound elementary, but you would be shocked by how many resumes are submitted for consideration featuring glaring and obvious typos and other spelling/grammar related gaffes. Always proofread your resume at least a few times before deciding you’re finished. No one wants to miss out on a great job opportunity over a missing letter or extra comma. 

• Never go over two pages: For tenured professionals, trimming one’s entire job history down to just one page may sound like a tall task, but a resume isn’t meant to tell the entire saga and story of your career. It should merely serve as a summary. The absolute maximum length of any resume is two pages, and even then an extra page should only be used by applicants with over a decade’s worth of relevant experience.

• Avoid AI: Just because there’s an AI program for pretty much everything nowadays doesn’t mean you should be using automation to compose your resume. Most recruiters consider signs of AI on a resume a red flag. After all, if you can’t even be bothered to write about your own job history, most decisionmakers will assume you’ll be equally as lazy on the job.

• Stay away from superfluous information: We all have personal lives outside the office, but a resume certainly isn’t the place to mention outside hobbies, interests, or goals. You’ll have plenty of time to tell your coworkers what you did last weekend after actually getting the job. The same can be said regarding additional professional information like salary requirements and references. Those are topics best saved for later on in the hiring process.