21 Resume Red Flags That Destroy Your Score (And How to Fix Them)

Your resume is often the first impression that an employer has of you in today’s competitive job market. Before you’ve had the chance to charm them with your interview prowess, your resume will be reviewed by advanced technology as well as seasoned recruiters.

Resume Red Flags consist of seemingly little mistakes that substantially diminish your chances of being hired for that coveted role, whether it is being actively filtered out by an employment system’s software, or a hiring manager discarding it in a matter of seconds.

Making yourself aware of these potential red flags is the first start to achieving a winning resume that not only won’t be discarded immediately, but that can highlight your own qualifications and accomplishments. In this article, I will attempt to identify the more prevalent resume Red Flags, discuss why they are red flags and provide tips on how to amend them, and in the end, improve your resume Score for the right reasons!

Which are red flags on a resume?

Recruiters and hiring managers are used to looking through dozens, if not hundreds, of resumes and know what to look for when spotting inconsistencies and red flags. These resume Red Flags can often be small details, but still demonstrate either inattentiveness to detail, a lack of qualifications, or even dishonesty.

From gaps in your employment history that are unexplained to simply misspelling a word – all content in your resume will be watched for! Let’s take a look at some of the most important examples of red flags on a resume, as well as how to assist in mitigating them so you can present them in the best possible way.

1. Unexplained Employment Gaps

Employment gaps that are substantial lengths of time (there isn’t a set time frame) can raise speculation, especially when not addressed in your resume or application. Possible speculation may be, “fired from their position,” “couldn’t find a new job because they weren’t skilled enough to get hired elsewhere,” or “lost interest in searching for a new job because of lack of desire.” 

How to Fix this Resume Red Flags: Be direct and be honest. Instead of leaving a blank section, address a lengthy period on your resume. One way is to be brief and provide a positive explanation. For example, “Planned career break for professional development,” “Took time off work to care for a family member.”

If you used that time to gain skills or experience in any way (freelance, volunteer, online courses, etc.), list them. You have just turned a negative into showing that you were pro active with a growth-mindset.

2. Frequent Job-Hopping Without Clear Progression

While hopping jobs is becoming more common, a resume filled with jobs lasting only a few months without clear career advancement is a major red flag for employers. Employers invest time and money into hiring, and they are hoping the new employee will grow with the company, investing their time and money back.  

How To Turn This Around: If the job-hopping you did was strategic to further your career, your resume should outline that. Highlight all the new skills you learned, promotions you received, and increasing levels of responsibility you undertook with each new position. A narrative of growth and learning can quickly turn the table on the perception of instability. If you left jobs quickly because of temporary contracts or company-wide layoffs, mention that briefly.

3. Vague or Inflated Job Titles

You may confuse people or risk coming off as someone trying to exaggerate your experience if you use vague or lofty job titles. For example, who will take you seriously if your lavished title for a receptionist is, “Sales and Director of First Impressions”?

How to Fix this Resume Red Flags: Use clear, common and actual job titles. If you believe your official title may not reflect the responsibilities you assumed, and want to add a title that better describes that responsibility, put it in ( ) next to your job title. You could also simply explain your actual duties in the bullet statements below it to describe what you did and not just what you were given as an actual job title.

4. Missing, Overlapping, or Misleading Dates

Inconsistencies in your dates of employment are one of the biggest red flags in a resume. Showing overlapping dates for fulltime positions or omitting months can indicate that you are trying to hide something.

How to Fix this Resume Red Flags: Pay very close attention to your dates. Use the same date format (i.e., Month Year – Month Year) for all entries. If you had multiple positions at the same company, make it clear under the heading for that company. If you had overlapping part-time or contract roles, be honest about the nature of that work. The most important thing to build trust is accuracy.

5. Duties Listed Without Measurable Achievements

In doing that, a resume that simply outlines job responsibilities reads as job description instead of documentation of your success. Potential employers want to see what those tasks meant in terms of your impact at your previous jobs, not merely the tasks you were responsible for. 

How to Fix this Resume Red Flags: The best way to change your duties into achievements is to quantify everything you do. By utilizing numbers, percentages, and action verbs you can show an employer your value as an employee.

For example, instead of writing “Responsible for managing the social media accounts”, you could write “By developing and implementing a social media strategy that increased our followers and engagement by 45% over six months.”

6. Generic Objective or Summary Statements

The objective to “Obtain a challenging position in a fast-paced company” is irrelevant and shared experience does not add any value. A generic summary is similarly useless. 

How to Solve It: Customize your professional summary for each job application and target your most relevant skills and accomplishments related to the position. This demonstrates to the employer that you have read the job description and really want the position. If you want to go further in-depth on how to create a compelling introduction, read about What Is a resume? and its elements.

7. Skills Sections Lacking Context or Proof

A lengthy list of skills with no supporting evidence, isn’t very convincing. Everyone claims they have good “team work” capabilities or are experienced using a particular software.

How to Fix this Resume Red Flags: Incorporate your skills into the context of where you have demonstrated those skills in your work experience. Instead of just saying “Project Management” you could explain a project you successfully led, identifying the scope, your role and the positive result. For technical skills, it would be easy to reference a particular project or certification to prove how skilled you are.

8. Exaggerated Qualifications and Credentials

Lying or significantly embellishing on your resume is a serious issue. Both of these errors can result in immediate disqualification, or termination later, if discovered. 

How to Fix this Resume Red Flags: Be truthful. Your resume should honestly represent your experience and skills. If you feel your experience is lacking in some way, highlight your transferable skills and your desire to learn. Oftentimes a strong work ethic and commitment to improvement are much more important than inflated accomplishments.

9. Typos, Formatting Errors, and Inconsistent Style

A resume riddled with typos, grammatical errors, or inconsistent formatting sends a clear message: a lack of attention to detail. This can be a deal-breaker for many employers.

How to Fix this Resume Red Flags: Proofread your resume multiple times. Read it aloud, have a friend or family member review it, and use a spell checker and grammar checker. Ensure your formatting is clean, professional, and consistent throughout the document. Utilizing a resume checker can be an invaluable tool in catching these errors before they reach a recruiter.

10. Irrelevant or Outdated Experience Highlighted

If your resume contains a lot of typos, grammatical mistakes or format inconsistencies, then you don’t share an attention to detail. For many employers, this will be enough for them to eliminate you from the selection process.

How to Fix this Resume Red Flags: Proofread your resume multiple times. Read aloud. Ask a friend or family member to proofread. Use a spell checker and a grammar checker. Make sure you are happy with your formatting and that it is clear, professional, and consistent throughout the document. Using a resume checker is also an excellent way to catch errors before sending your resume to a recruiter.

11. Keyword Stuffing Aimed at Beating ATS Filters

Some candidates might be tempted to “keyword stuff” their resumes, using keywords from the job description in a manner that makes the resume unreadable in order to get through the first stage of the resume Parser, but you will either be flagged for this by the system or by a human being. 

Fix: Use keywords more naturally in the resume, in the professional summary and work experience sections, and let the words of your resume be genuine to your experience. To be able to optimize your resume by understanding how these systems work, it is helpful to know What is resume Parsing?.

12. No Evidence of Continuous Learning or Growth

A resume that demonstrates a linear career path without any indication of professional development may demonstrate a disinterest in moving upward professionally or a disinterest in learning new skills and facing new challenges. 

How to Fix this Resume Red Flags:  Add development, certifications or relevancy training. Talk about the new skills you have learned or the workshops you attended. That shows that you are currently in your profession and you want to keep improving!

13. An Unprofessional Email Address

If you put an email address like `[email protected]` or `[email protected]` on a resume, you are immediately implying to a recruiter that you are unprofessional. You are demonstrating that you have not bothered to even create a professional persona that suggests that you may not take the job seriously.

How to Fix this Resume Red Flags: This is an easy fix. Simply create a basic, professional email address for your job search. The best format is a variation of your name, like `[email protected]` or `[email protected]`. It seems like a small detail, but it really makes a big difference.

14. Including a Headshot or Personal Information

In most job applications, putting a photo isn’t good practice, unless you work in a profession like acting or modeling, where appearance is related to the hiring decision you are being judged by. To do so, puts unconscious bias in the hands of the individual(s) reviewing your application. The same goes for personal details like your marital status, age, or religion.

How to fix this Resume Red Flags: Remove the photo and any personal details that do not pertain directly to what ability you have to do the job. Spend the limited amount of space on your resume explaining your skills, experience and accomplishments. You want to be judged only based on your qualifications.

15. Using a “One-Size-Fits-All” resume

One of the easiest ways to give off a red flag in your resume is submitting the same resume for every job applied to (you probably shouldn’t do it). It’s not hard for recruiters to spot a generic application that hasn’t been adjusted for the specific job or company. You haven’t shown how you can meet their needs, and even more importantly, you haven’t shown any REAL interest or effort into the job. 

How to Fix this Resume Red Flags: Read (really read) each job description and tailor your resume. Use the keywords and phrases in the posting, and only highlight the experience and skills that are relevant to that specific role. A tailored resume demonstrates to the hiring manager that you are a good fit for their needs.

16. Overly Formal or Outdated Language

Using excessively formal, dated, or clichéd expressions such as “Responsible for…” or “Duties include…” can make your resume sound passive and out-of-date. Modern resumes have an action-oriented and dynamic feel, with bullet points starting with an action verb. 

How to Do It: Use descriptive action verbs to commence your bullet points (e.g., “Orchestrated”, “Accelerated”, “Negotiated”, “Transformed”). Write in a confident, professional, direct, present-tense voice that conveys your capabilities and accomplishments.

17. Listing Obvious Skills

These skills, like “Microsoft Word,” “internet searching,” or “emailing” are now commonplace in most jobs. Including them takes up unnecessary space on your resume and make it look like you are trying to fluff your skills section.

How to fix this Resume Red Flags: Include only those higher level, more specific skills that directly relate to the job you are applying for (not “Microsoft Word,” but “Advanced skills in MS Office Suite including mail merges and pivot tables”). Only include skills that will improve your chances of being selected.

18. Poor File Naming Convention

When a recruiter downloads your resume, the name of the file matters. If you submitted a resume that simply had the file name `resume.pdf`, that may create some logistical nightmare for a recruiter downloading 100 resumes. They may have shoved it into a folder, it can be easily lost from the files and it displays a minor sense of an absence of professional polish.

The Fix this Resume Red Flags: Save your resume as a PDF, with a clear and professional file name. A standard and smart example would be `FirstName-LastName-resume.pdf`, or `FirstName-LastName-JobTitle-Application.pdf`.

19. Focusing on “We” Instead of “I”

Collaborative efforts are vital to successful work; however, your resume represents *your* skills and what you contributed, not what “we” did. Using the pronoun “we” in your accomplishment descriptors (e.g., “We increased sales by 20%”) can obfuscate your personal contribution and impact. 

How to remedy this Resume Red Flags:: Change the wording of your accomplishment statements to focus on what you accomplished on your own. For example: “Worked with 4 others or as part of a 5 person team to increase sales by 20%. My contributions included developing and implementing a new lead generation strategy.” This illustrates your contributions individually and as part of a team.

20. Negative Language or Blaming Past Employers

Inclusion of any language that sounds negative, complains about a prior position, or blames a previous boss or company presents a significant professional problem. These statements raise questions regarding your attitude, judgment, and ability to work with others.

How to Fix this Resume Red Flags: Use positive language throughout your resume, period. Even experiences that were challenging, or even difficult, need to be articulated through the lens of what you learned and the accomplishments you achieved. Simply put, a resume is a marketing document. You are selling your positives, not bemoaning the negatives.

21. No Online Presence or an Unprofessional One

In our digital world today, a lot of recruiters will look you up online. A non-existent online professional presence (like LinkedIn) could be a resume red flag since it would be reasonable for them to wonder if you are a legitimate candidate in their search. Worse, a public profile that is filled with unprofessional content could really hurt your chances. 

How to Fix this Resume Red Flags: At the very least you should develop a complete and professional LinkedIn profile that matches your resume and a link to it in your contact information. You should also clean up any public-facing social media profiles or make sure that there is nothing on them that could be considered unprofessional or offensive.

How resume Scanners and Recruiters Spot Red Flags

It is important to know how your resume will be evaluated. At many companies, resumes are processed by Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) initially prior to evaluation by a human being. ATS systems are set up to look for certain keywords and search for a format. Red flags for an ATS include: 

• Unsupported File Type: Unless specified, you should submit your resume as a .doc, .docx or pdf, and not any other file type.
• Formatting that confuses the parser: If you want to use tables, multiple columns, or insert graphics/rich text into your resume, an ATS may not interpret it correctly.
• Lack of keywords: If you don’t use the keywords used in the job description, it may be scored low viability in its evaluation (not pass it).

If your resume passes the ATS, the resume is in front of a human recruiter. A recruiter would quickly scan the resume for the same red flags above, paying especially close attention to employment history, accomplishments, and presentation. They are looking for factors to either move you to the next stage, or accept you into their dislike pile.

Proactive Strategies to Avoid resume Red Flags

The most effective way to manage resume Red Flags is to not create them in the first instance. Here are some preventative steps that you could consider:  

• Keep a “master” resume: Create a detailed document of all your job duties and accomplishments from all of your jobs. This way, you will be able to customize your resume for a particular application with ease.
• Keep track of accomplishments: Record your measurable outcomes from your current position as you are doing them and then input them into your master resume on a regular basis.
• Acquire, explain, and accomplish any “gaps” as they happen: If you take a leave of absence from work, plan what you will say to explain it, and, if possible, use that time wisely in order to have great stories to tell your future employer.
• Get feedback from one or more people: Always have someone else proofread your resume before you submit it. You can also use resume checker tools to do it for you. 

Conclusion: Resume Red Flags

The resume is an important tool for job seekers, but it can also be a source of potential sources of resume Red Flags. By learning what are red flags on a resume, and taking steps to proactively address them, you can better position your application for success. Remember to be truthful, be factual, and concentrate on providing proof of your value through measurable results.

A properly built resume, free of red flags, will not only allow you to get further than the initial screening process, but also make an impact on hiring managers and increase your chances of landing your next great opportunity, too.

FAQs for Resume Red Flags