Is Your Resume Sabotaging Your Job Search? 5 Things to Delete Today

1. Typos and Sneaky Grammatical Errors

We all make mistakes, but on a resume, a simple typo can be a deal-breaker. To a hiring manager, it signals a lack of attention to detail—a critical skill in almost every industry. It suggests you either didn't care enough to double-check your work or you simply missed the error, neither of which is a good look.

What to do instead:

• Read it backward: Start with the last sentence and read your way to the top. This trick helps your brain focus on individual words rather than the overall flow, making it easier to spot errors.
• Use a tool: Run your resume through a grammar and spell-checking tool like Grammarly.
• Get a second opinion: Ask a trusted friend or mentor to give it a once-over. A fresh pair of eyes can work wonders.

2. Your Professional Headshot

Unless you're an actor or model, your photo has no place on your resume. In many countries, including the US, UK, and Australia, including a photo is a major faux pas. It takes up valuable real estate that could be used to detail another project or skill. More importantly, it can introduce unconscious bias into the hiring process, which recruiters are actively trying to avoid.

What to do instead:

Let your skills and experience speak for themselves. Save your professional headshot for your LinkedIn profile, and be sure to include a link to your profile in your contact information.

3. Oversharing Personal Details

Your resume is a professional document, not a personal biography. Information like your date of birth, marital status, nationality, or religious affiliation is completely irrelevant to your ability to perform a job. Including it not only clutters the page but can also open the door to discrimination.

What to do instead:

Keep your contact section clean and professional. All you need is:

• Your Name
• Phone Number
• Professional Email Address
• A link to your LinkedIn profile

That's it. Nothing more, nothing less.

4. The "Kitchen Sink" Approach to Experience

It's tempting to list every job you've ever had to show you've been busy, but it’s not effective. The recruiter hiring for a Senior Marketing Manager role doesn't need to know about the summer you spent working at a cafe ten years ago. Irrelevant information dilutes the impact of your relevant experience and forces the hiring manager to hunt for the good stuff.

What to do instead:

Tailor your resume for every single job you apply for. Read the job description carefully and only include the work experience and skills that directly relate to that specific role.

This can feel like a lot of work, especially when you're applying to multiple positions. This is where using a smart and intuitive tool can be a game-changer. A modern builder like resumost.com can help you quickly create and manage multiple versions of your resume, making it easy to customize your application for each opportunity without starting from scratch.

5. Little White Lies (or Big Ones)

It can be tempting to stretch the truth to seem like a better candidate—maybe fluffing up a job title, exaggerating your impact on a project, or claiming proficiency in a skill you’ve only dabbled in. Don't do it.

Honesty is non-negotiable. Background checks are standard procedure, and a lie, no matter how small, will get discovered. Getting caught is a fast track to the "no" pile and can damage your professional reputation for years to come.

What to do instead:

Be honest and confident in your actual experience. Instead of making things up, learn to frame your accomplishments in the best possible light. Use action verbs and quantifiable results to show the real, truthful impact you made. "Managed a project" becomes "Led a 3-person team to deliver the X project 2 weeks ahead of schedule, resulting in a 15% cost saving."

Ready to Make a Change?

Your resume is your ticket to an interview. By removing these five things, you create a cleaner, more powerful, and professional document that respects the recruiter's time and showcases your qualifications in the best possible way.

So, open up that file and start decluttering. Your next great job could be just one revised resume away.