Imagine that you are responsible for hiring new employees; you will be presented with a large number of resumes to consider for the next stages.

Sometimes, this number may reach hundreds, and the fact is that recruiters will not spend time studying each resume; instead, they will merely skim them for key information. 

If they find anything in your CV that irritates them, chances are that your precious CV may end up in the trash bin. 

To write a good resume, you should not only consider what to include but also be aware of frequent errors to avoid. Here are seven resume red flags that employers hate:

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1. Making Typos & Grammar Mistakes

Employers hate it when you have typos and grammar mistakes because it shows that you are not professional. Errors in spelling and grammar tell your recruiter that you aren't fully prepared, that you don’t pay attention to details, and that you don't take things seriously.

Be especially careful with these kinds of mistakes. Take the time to look over your resume again and ask other people to do it for you as well. Before you send it, it's also a good idea to run it through Grammarly as well to see if you’ve missed anything.

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2. Lying

If we could only give you one piece of advice, it would be to not put things on your CV that you can't back up 100%.

People often make the error of presuming that companies have no way of knowing if they lied on their CV.

Well, here's a secret: people talk, and in this golden era of the Internet everyone knows everyone, and all the information is out there, nobody is secure. It would be professional suicide to be detected in a lie.

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3. Overexaggerating 

Trying too hard might have the opposite impact. Employers want to know your strengths, but they don't want to read a CV in which you solely write about how amazing you are and how you managed everything on your own.

That is simply unrealistic, and recruiters are well aware of it.

Remember that everything you add to your resume must be supported by tangible results or achievements.

Be careful not to take credit for other people's work; this will look extremely bad for your profile, and no one wants to work with a self-absorbed, egoistic person.

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4. Listing Irrelevant Information & TMI

Adding too much or irrelevant information to a CV is a method undergraduates and individuals with little to no experience do to make it appear longer and richer.

The worst examples are those that include religion and relationship status. According to recent research, those who stated a religious identity on their resumes were less likely to get a response than those who did not list it. 

Do not include personal information on your resume unless it is explicitly requested. Even if such information is required, consider if it violates your privacy and rights; typically, personal and sensitive information should not be required.

Another error is including information that is unrelated to the position you are applying for.

Information concerning irrelevant job experience wastes valuable resume space, clouding the subject and diverting attention from your key message, and recruiters do not want to waste time reading stuff that is not valuable to them.

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5. Poor Formatting & Design

Poor formatting and design deliver two messages: first, that you did not put much work into your resume, indicating that you are uninterested in the job, and second, that you lack computer literacy.

Both have a negative effect on the recruiter's decision to hire you.

Fortunately, even if you are not skilled at designing and formatting, you may use online CV builders to help you.

Cvitae tool is one of the finest resume builders available, with various design templates and custom options you are able to create your unique professional resume in record time. 

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6. Making it Too Long

You've undoubtedly heard this multiple times, but studies indicate that recruiters spend an average of 6 seconds looking through a CV. They will check for crucial information and choose the most visually appealing, well-formatted resumes.

Long resumes wind up in the garbage. A great CV should be no more than two pages long. The ideal resume is one page long and well-formatted, with vital information highlighted and correctly ordered.

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7. Sending the Resume in a Wrong Format

Finally, you have carefully crafted your resume and (hopefully) considered all of my above suggestions. The last step is to send a well-thought-out email with your CV attached.

Receiving resumes in JPEG, PNG, and other unsuitable formats that often do not even open is one of the recruiters' biggest pet peeves.

They will not take the time to convert your resume to another format only to read it; they have much more important tasks to do.

Always save your resume in PDF or Docx format. We suggest PDFs since it doesn't mess with your resume format as Docx does.

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