Which mistake should I check first?

Your contact details. If an employer cannot read your email address or phone number, they cannot reply, however strong the rest of your resume is.

How do I find my own typos?

Read your resume backwards, one line at a time, or read it aloud. The tools on this site do not check spelling, so this step is yours.

What are the most common resume mistakes?

Bullets that list duties without results, vague openers such as "responsible for", no numbers, contact details placed in the page header, mixed date formats and typos. The first three affect how a reader judges your work, and the next two can affect how software reads your file.

Can one typo get my resume rejected?

It can, if the reader is choosing between many similar applicants or the job involves careful written work. It is easy to prevent: read the resume backwards line by line, then ask someone else to read it once.

Should I explain a career gap on my resume?

A short, factual line is enough, such as "Career break: full-time caregiving, 2023". You do not need to give details on the resume. Be ready to discuss it in an interview.

Resume Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Some resume mistakes stop software from reading your file correctly. Others make it harder for a recruiter to judge your work, and some are small errors a careful reader will notice. Start with the first group, because a resume that software reads wrongly may not come up when a recruiter searches.

By ATSResumeKit TeamUpdated October 2026 6 min read

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Mistakes that stop your resume being read correctly

Check for contact details in the page header or footer, a two-column layout, text saved as an image, a typo in your email address, mixed date formats, unusual section headings and a password-protected file. The ATS resume format guide explains how each one affects text extraction and how to test for it.

For a resume in the builder, the ATS checker flags a malformed email address, mixed or unreadable dates and unusual headings, though not a typo that still leaves a valid address, and the builder's templates avoid the layout problems. The file format guide covers the image and password problems, and how to check that your PDF contains real text.

Mistakes that make your resume harder to assess

No summary at the top. The summary guide shows how to write one.
Bullets that list duties without results, or open with "Worked on" or "Responsible for". See the bullet points guide.
No numbers anywhere. The guide to quantifying achievements shows how to find them.
A short skills section, or none. See the skills guide.

Ten bullet fixes, before and after

Each pair below fixes a different mistake. The jobs vary so you can find one close to yours, and every number is illustrative. Replace it with a figure from your own work, or leave the number out if you do not have one.

Before

Responsible for handling customer complaints

After

Resolved about 30 billing complaints a week, and cut repeat complaints by rewriting the refund email template

Duty phrasing. "Responsible for" names the job, while the fix names what you did and what changed.

Before

Worked on the new mobile app

After

Built the login and payment screens of a React Native app used by 20,000 customers

A vague opener. "Worked on" hides your part, so name the part that was yours.

Before

The quarterly audit was prepared and submitted on time

After

Prepared and submitted the quarterly internal audit file, on time in all four quarters

Passive voice. The original never says who did the work.

Before

I managed a team of five sales executives

After

Managed 5 sales executives covering 140 retail accounts in Pune

A first-person pronoun. Resume bullets leave out "I", and the space goes to scope instead.

Before

Successfully completed the migration of the HR records

After

Moved 3,200 employee records from spreadsheets to Zoho People with no data loss

Filler. "Successfully" adds nothing a completed task does not already say.

Before

Team player with strong problem-solving skills

After

Covered night-shift dispatch for two weeks during a staff shortage, keeping all 60 daily deliveries on schedule

A cliché. A trait claim becomes one event that shows it.

Before

Handled various tasks related to inventory

After

Ran the weekly stock count for 2 warehouses and cut count discrepancies from 4% to under 1%

Vague scope. "Various tasks" tells the reader nothing about size or result.

Before

Created reports

After

Created a weekly Power BI report on regional sales for 6 branch managers

Too short. Two words cannot show what the report covered or who used it.

Before

Led the planning, design, development, testing, deployment and maintenance of an internal leave management tool for the company, working closely with HR and managers across the organisation to gather requirements and make sure it met their needs

After

Led the build of an internal leave tool that replaced email approvals for 400 staff

Too long. The list of phases goes, and the outcome takes its place.

Before

Taught students mathematics

After

Taught mathematics to 4 sections of Class 10; the share of students scoring above 80% rose from 22% to 35% in one year

No outcome. The fix adds the scale of the work and a measured change.

The Bullet Improver checks bullets for most of these problems: weak openers such as "worked on" and "responsible for", passive voice, "I" and "my", filler, overused phrases, length, and a missing number. It rewrites the wording when that is enough, and leaves a blank where only you know the figure. The bullet points guide explains the structure behind every "after" version above.

Small errors a careful reader notices

Typos, especially in your own job title or an employer's name.
Mixed tenses within one job.
Some bullets ending with a full stop and others without.
"I" and "my" in your bullets.
An unprofessional email address.
A file named "resume_final_v3.pdf".

Mistakes in dates and job titles

Dates and titles are the facts a background check confirms, so errors in them cost more than a typo.

A job title that differs from what your employer would confirm. If your official title was unclear, such as "Associate II", you can add the common equivalent in brackets: "Associate II (Data Analyst)".
Dates that overlap without explanation. If you held two roles at once, say so, for example by marking one as part-time.
Years only on some jobs and months and years on others. Pick one format and use it everywhere.
A gap you have not prepared to explain. A short line such as "Career break: family care, 2023" answers the question before it is asked.

The ATS checker flags a job with no start date and dates it cannot read as a month and year. Whether a title or a date is true is something only you can check. For mistakes inside one section, such as the summary or skills, open the guide for that section from the guides page.

Overused phrases

To test a phrase, ask whether anyone would ever claim the opposite. Nobody writes "poor communicator" or "careless with detail", so "excellent communication skills" and "detail-oriented" tell the reader nothing. Replace the phrase with the evidence behind it. The numbers below are illustrative.

Before

Excellent communication skills

After

Presented quarterly analysis to a 40-person leadership group and wrote the onboarding guide the team still uses

The evidence replaces the claim.

Before

Detail-oriented team player

After

Maintained 99.8% accuracy across 4,000 monthly reconciliations with no audit adjustments

Accuracy at that volume is what "detail-oriented" was trying to say.

Search your resume for these phrases: team player, hard worker, self-starter, detail-oriented, results-driven, proactive, proven track record, passionate about, quick learner, excellent communication skills, responsible for, duties included.

If a posting lists one of these as a requirement, using the exact phrase once in your skills or summary is a fair match. The Bullet Improver flags a list of 30 overused phrases and the weak openers described above.

Frequently asked questions

Which mistake should I check first?: Your contact details. If an employer cannot read your email address or phone number, they cannot reply, however strong the rest of your resume is.
How do I find my own typos?: Read your resume backwards, one line at a time, or read it aloud. The tools on this site do not check spelling, so this step is yours.
What are the most common resume mistakes?: Bullets that list duties without results, vague openers such as "responsible for", no numbers, contact details placed in the page header, mixed date formats and typos. The first three affect how a reader judges your work, and the next two can affect how software reads your file.
Can one typo get my resume rejected?: It can, if the reader is choosing between many similar applicants or the job involves careful written work. It is easy to prevent: read the resume backwards line by line, then ask someone else to read it once.
Should I explain a career gap on my resume?: A short, factual line is enough, such as "Career break: full-time caregiving, 2023". You do not need to give details on the resume. Be ready to discuss it in an interview.

Check your resume for these mistakes

The ATS checker flags missing contact details, unrecognised headings, mixed date formats, weak openers and bullets without numbers.

Run the ATS check

Related guides

All 15 resume guides, in the order you would use them while writing a resume.