Don't Send a Terrible Resume to a Recruiter — 5 Mistakes to Avoid

Here's the thing: most of the resumes that recruiters read are terrible. You may find this to be rude, but the recruiters I've interacted with will agree.

In a LinkedIn Live video, Jack Kelly said, "A recruiter might get 100 resumes. Five of them are okay...." Enough said.

If your resume isn’t getting results, it might be due to one (or more) of the following five reasons:

1️⃣ You are not qualified for the job.

This being the case, the best resume in the world won't result in an interview. I know that given this tight job market, you don't want to hear this. You feel you can make up for the lack of technical skills required for the machine learning engineer position, but lacking the basic skills for machine learning won't land you an interview.

The solution: My pappy was fond of giving me dating advice, which I tried to ignore, but he said one thing that stuck in my mind. He said for every guy, there's a gal. The same applies to you. There are jobs out there for which you're qualified.

You don't need to meet every requirement, but you have to meet the basic and major ones. If the job calls for experience with Python, you must have Python. If the job requires a secret security clearance, you must have a secret security clearance.

Marisol Maloney, a recruiter and resume writer, says it clearly:

"Want to know how to NOT get rejected? Be qualified. She adds, "While some applicants are qualified, they don't PROVE HOW they are qualified on their resumes and end up getting rejected."

2️⃣ Your resume doesn't speak to the needs of the employer.

In other words, it's not tailored to that position. Please don't tell me you tailor your cover letters—or ChatGPT does—so you don't need to tailor your resume. Want in on a dirty secret? Most recruiters don't have time to read your cover letters—they're reading a bazillion resumes at a sitting.

The solution: Embrace AI and have ChatGPT, or your tool of choice, to tailor your resume to the job description. Your resume might be well-written—your foundational document—but it won’t meet every employer’s needs right out of the box. How can it? Resume expert, Erin Kennedy, MCD, CERW, CRA, CERM, CMRW, CEMC, says it concisely:

"A resume is not 'one size fits all' and should be tailored for each role using the job description."

3️⃣ Your resume lacks relevant accomplishment statements. Have you ever wondered which movie you should watch on Netflix? Your genre of choice is romantic comedies. Netflix knows this based on the movies you've watched and will suggest ones similar to them. Stating relevant accomplishments says to the recruiter, "I know what's important to you."

The solution: Let's first start by recognizing that recruiters want to see your value add, so quantified results matter. Further, they have certain criteria in mind in terms of accomplishment types. Think of it this way: Meeting deliverable deadlines and collaborating across various departments are two important criteria.

Joe is a project manager who met most deliverables through collaboration with his engineers and various stakeholders. He writes:

"Successfully met key project deliverables by fostering collaboration between engineering teams and cross-functional stakeholders."

This is true, but it fails to impress the reader because it lacks tangible results. What does "Successful" mean?

Better: "Delivered 95% of project milestones on time by coordinating efforts across engineering teams and stakeholders, resulting in a 20% improvement in delivery efficiency year over year."

Keanna Carter, a recruiter, writes:

"We want to see metrics. We want to see data. We want to see that you made an impact. That’s going to separate you from the other candidates that we’re looking at.”

4️⃣ Your resume's Summary doesn't show value. My connection and resume writer, Paula Christensen, writes,

"I often see summaries that lean heavily on tenure but don’t really say much. The result? A vague statement that could apply to 100 other people."

I concur 100%. Your Summary is where you show the value you'll deliver to the employer, and your opening statement should make the reader say, "WOW."

The solution: Paula contrasts a weak summary with one that delivers:

Wrong: Seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience in a variety of roles across multiple industries.

Much better: SaaS program manager with a background in managing $10M+ portfolios, third-party vendor integrations, and phased product launches.

See how the second version skips the years of experience and jumps right into the value?

5️⃣ Your resume doesn't pass the first test: readability.

When a resume isn't readable—has long paragraphs and bulleted items, contains fancy formatting that confuses the reader more than guides her, and is strewn with acronyms that take a scientist to decipher—it loses the fight from the get-go.

The solution: Realize the resume is about you, that it's written with the recruiter in mind, so have mercy on them. Let's use this analogy: you're assigned to read James Joyce in high school and have a day to do it. You read the first sentence of Ulysses and wish there were an alternative to passing English Lit., like The Catcher in the Rye. Give that poor recruiter The Catcher in the Rye.

Adrienne Tom, a resume writer, says it nicely: "Less can be more in a resume. Oversharing or writing text-heavy narratives risks burying crucial content or not being read at all."

Jack Kelly isn't the first recruiter to bemoan terrible resumes, and his guest Ed Han didn't pose any opposition to Jack's statement.

Job seekers, please make the effort to submit the best marketing material you can to employers. Hiring authorities want you to succeed; they really do.

But in order for you to succeed, you need to make their lives easier.