Recruiters spend an average of 6 to 7 seconds scanning an initial resume. Minor oversights can lead to instant disqualification. Here are the top 10 mistakes candidates make and how to fix them:
1. Listing Responsibilities Instead of Accomplishments
Instead of writing “Responsible for writing backend APIs”, write “Engineered 12 RESTful microservices in Spring Boot handling 50,000 daily requests with 99.9% uptime.”
2. Overly Complex Formatting
Multi-layered graphics, tables, and unreadable fonts confuse ATS scanners. Stick to a clean, well-spaced single or two-column layout.
3. Submitting Generic Resumes
Always align your skill tags with the target job posting.