ATS

The 8 Most Common ATS Resume Mistakes

The mistakes that get otherwise-qualified candidates filtered out by the ATS — and the exact fixes for each.

Hand marking corrections on a printed resume

Most ATS-related rejections trace back to one of eight mistakes. Fix them and your ranking moves immediately.

The 8 most common mistakes

  • Tables and multi-column layouts (the parser scrambles the order)
  • Graphics, icons, and progress bars (parsed as nothing)
  • Non-standard section headings (Career Story vs. Experience)
  • Missing keywords from the job posting
  • Generic job titles that don't match industry standard
  • No quantified achievements
  • Dates without months (only years confuses the parser)
  • Submitting a PDF when the posting asks for DOCX

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Resume Bestie's templates are immune to all 8 mistakes by default.

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