A good resume is the backbone of any decent job application. It’s often the first impression a potential employer will have of you, meaning it’s a critical document to get right. If your resume is pitted with errors, chances are you won’t pass that first test and will get screened out of the interview process before you’ve even started.
You might be surprised to hear then, that over two-thirds of resumes contain fundamental mistakes. What were they? Our data team analyzed just under half a million resumes recently submitted to our ValueMyResume tool to find out the most common errors made, and these are the results.
Today’s job market is fiercely competitive, so it’s time to iron out those crinkles to get ahead of the rest. Here are our top tips to fix your resume and make it flawless.
Tip 1: Eliminate any spelling errors
Only a third of the resumes analyzed were spelling error free, meaning over 7 in 10 resumes contained at least one mistake. With spell checks on writing software and tools like Grammarly able to identify confusion between synonyms like ‘their, there and there’, this huge proportion is totally avoidable and shows poor attention to detail. 17% of the resumes analyzed contained five or more errors, while 2% were truly error-riddled, containing 20 or more spelling slip ups.
The most commonly misspelled word? ‘Efficiency’ which was spelled incorrectly a whopping 4,000 times. Not very efficient for your job search if the mistake is getting you screened out of the hiring process!
Other common mistakes include: theater, skill set, company-wide, judgment, analyze, stand-up, configure, program, behavior, catalog, and management. Proper spelling of these terms is crucial, as they are often key components of job descriptions and qualifications.
For hiring managers, mistakes here could stick out like a sore thumb on your resume. So our first tip is to cross reference your resume against the common misspellings below now and correct any that are wrong.
| Rank | Common spelling mistakes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | efficiency | |||
| 2 | theater | |||
| 3 | skill set | |||
| 4 | company-wide | |||
| 5 | judgment | |||
| 6 | analyze | |||
| 7 | stand-up | |||
| 8 | configure | |||
| 9 | program | |||
| 10 | traveling | |||
| 11 | multi-tasker | |||
| 12 | mediation | |||
| 13 | behavior | |||
| 14 | catalog | |||
| 15 | management | |||
Who’s making the most mistakes?
Alongside analyzing the mistakes themselves, our data team also drilled into which state’s workers are the worst offenders for errors on their resumes.
Top of the sloppy charts were Californians, with 174,584 resumes of Californian jobseekers containing one or more of the mistakes mentioned above. Texan jobseekers came in second sloppiest, with 125,658 making resume errors. New Yorkers were third, with 101,957 making slip-ups.
Top 10 states with the most resume spelling errors
| Rank | State | Resume count with spelling errors | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 174,584 | ||
| 2 | Texas | 125,658 | ||
| 3 | New York | 101,957 | ||
| 4 | Florida | 92,480 | ||
| 5 | Georgia | 54,879 | ||
| 6 | Illinois | 54,732 | ||
| 7 | New Jersey | 51,144 | ||
| 8 | North Carolina | 41,890 | ||
| 9 | Pennsylvania | 32,072 | ||
| 10 | Virginia | 29,824 |
Tip 2: Use proper formatting
The formatting error we see most often is jobseekers forgetting to include a personal summary at the top of their resume. A huge 51.4% of the resumes we analyzed omitted this section, equal to 251,342 missing personal summaries.
How does this hinder your prospects? A personal summary is the chance to highlight your career ambitions and strengths and grab the attention of the hiring manager. It’s like a mini advert for your resume, summarizing what you’re about and helping you to stick in the mind of the hiring team. Given a personal summary only needs to be a sentence or two, it’s well worth adding in.
The ideal length of your resume will vary according to how much relevant experience you have to a role, but you should be aiming to keep your document concise and no longer than two pages at max. There’s no need to add in your college societies or music interests unless they’re particularly relevant. 15.9% of jobseekers make their resume too long or too short, according to our analysis. Don’t let this be you.
Tip 3: Include your contact details
Less common, but arguably more severe, is the error of missing contact details. Of the resumes we analyzed, 7.3% had a missing or invalid phone contact number and 4.2% had a missing or invalid email address. Now given the whole point of a resume is to whet the appetite of the hiring manager so they can contact you to find out more, leaving off your contact details is a major fail. Check you have up to date details on your resume right now, or don’t expect to hear back from any applications.
While we’re on the subject of email addresses, make sure yours is appropriate. soccerislife99@hotmail.com might have been a cool email address back in the day, but it doesn’t leave a good impression on a potential employer. Sort it out, soccer fan.
A note on postal addresses: 22% of resumes missed off a postal address, although this is no longer essential (and indeed protecting your personal details may help guard you from scams). However, it is advisable to note your home city and whether you’re looking for office-based, hybrid, or remote work up front, as employers will want to make sure you’re located in an area that works with their particular working set-up.
Tip 4: Help recruiters find your resume with a clear file name
You might assume that a recruiter remembers your name and all the details of your resume, down to your college grades and where you live, but that’s wishful thinking. Like the rest of us, recruiters and hiring managers are juggling a full plate, only on theirs is a pile of resumes from hopeful candidates.
Help them out by using a straightforward naming convention when picking a file name for your resume that they can easily search for in their inbox. Firstname Surname Resume is perfect, e.g. John Smith Resume. Failing to follow this convention is a really common error, made by 18.7% of jobseekers. Even worse are the instances where a name such as John Smith Resume Draft V3 is used, suggesting your document is a work in progress and – let’s be frank – possibly a dog’s dinner. Your file name is a chance to show that you’re organized and detail minded. Set a good impression.
Tip 5: Eliminate (or explain) career gaps
Just under a third (29.6%) of resumes included unexplained career gaps and these could be costing job hunters dearly.
While there’s nothing wrong with career gaps in themselves, a hiring manager is going to want to find out what you were doing while you were between jobs and it’s better to answer those questions up front. Were you on parental leave? Off traveling? Taking a sabbatical to retrain? Add in the details.
Further, if you were made redundant and had a gap while you were looking for your next role, be ready to explain that and perhaps mention some self development projects or courses you focused on during that time. Employers are far more understanding of layoffs and career gaps than many jobseekers fear. In today’s day and age, they’re common and not something to be ashamed of.
Check your resume now
So there we have it, the full rundown of common resume pitfalls you need to avoid to make a good impression on hiring managers. The good news is we have a nifty tool that can take the hard work out of checking your resume and will highlight any errors, and it’s totally free. Plug your resume into ValueMyResume to reveal any mistakes you need to correct now.
What’s more, you’ll also receive a market valuation of what you could expect to be earning in today’s jobs market to help you negotiate a fair salary.
We even include gender pay gap information for every job, so you can see if unfair biases are impacting your earning potential (and so you will know when an employer is making a fair offer).
Read more: Top 10 cover letter tips