15 Resume Mistakes That Get You Rejected

These sound obvious, but they are among the most frustrating for recruiters, because a good profile becomes useless if they cannot reach you.

Many recruiters in India call or WhatsApp shortlisted candidates within a day or two, often from unknown numbers. Keep your phone charged, answer politely, and set up a voicemail or WhatsApp status that shows your name.

1. 1Wrong or inactive phone number. A single wrong digit means no call. Read your number aloud against your phone. If you have two SIMs, list the one you always carry.
2. 2Unprofessional email address. Names like "cooldude99" create a poor first impression. Create a simple firstname.lastname email and use it only for jobs.
3. 3No city or location. Many jobs are tied to a location. Write your current city and, if true, "open to relocating to Pune or Bengaluru".

The top of your resume is read first and sometimes read only. Weak opening lines waste that space.

1. 1A generic objective. "To work in a reputed organisation where I can grow" says nothing. Name the role, your experience and one strength: "Customer support executive with 2 years in voice process; fluent in Hindi, Kannada and English."
2. 2No clear job target. If your resume says you want sales, HR and IT support at once, a recruiter cannot place you. Create separate versions for different roles.

This is where recruiters decide whether you can do the job. Common problems are about vagueness rather than lack of ability.

Think of each bullet as an answer to "so what?". If a line only names a duty, add what you handled, how often, or what improved.

1. 1Listing duties instead of results. "Handled customer calls" becomes "Handled around 60 inbound calls a day; resolved most billing queries on the first call". Use only numbers you actually know.
2. 2Copying the job description. Recruiters recognise their own wording. Describe your work in your own words.
3. 3A long, unfocused skills list. Thirty words with no priority look padded. Pick the eight to twelve that match the job. Our list of skills to put on your resume can help you choose.
4. 4Missing dates or unexplained gaps. Dates without months, or a missing year, make recruiters suspicious. Use month-year format and add a short line for gaps. See how to explain a career gap.

Exaggeration may get you a call, but it often ends at the interview or, worse, at background verification after you have resigned from your current job. Many employers check previous employment, education and sometimes salary slips.

Being honest does not mean underselling yourself. It means describing real work in the strongest true words.

1. 1Claiming skills you cannot demonstrate. If you write "Advanced Excel" or "Python", expect a quick test. Write "Basic" or "Working knowledge" where that is the truth.
2. 2Inflated titles or salary. Calling yourself "Manager" when your letter says "Executive", or adding a few lakh to your CTC, can lead to an offer being withdrawn after verification.

Even a strong resume suffers if it is hard to read. Recruiters often open resumes on phones, so what looks fine on a laptop may break on a small screen.

1. 1Spelling and grammar errors. Errors such as "Recieved" or "Excel sheat" suggest carelessness. Run a spell check and ask a friend to read it once.
2. 2Too long or too crowded. A fresher resume of three pages, or tiny font squeezed into one page, both hurt. Aim for one page for freshers and up to two for experienced roles.
3. 3Fancy templates and photos of text. Skill bars, icons, multiple columns and scanned images confuse portals. Use a clean layout, as explained in our resume format guide.
4. 4A badly named file. "Resume final final.docx" looks careless and is hard to find later. Use "Your-Name-Role-Resume.pdf".

It helps to see what a fix looks like in practice. Here is a typical experience entry from a resume that was getting few calls, followed by a rewritten version for the same person and the same job.

Before: "Worked as Back Office Executive. Responsible for data entry, MIS, coordination with team and other work as assigned by seniors." There are no dates, no organisation type, no tools and no outcome. A recruiter cannot tell whether this person handled ten entries a day or a thousand.

After: "Back Office Executive, logistics company, Jun 2023 – Present, Thane. Update daily shipment status for around 150 consignments in Excel and the company portal; prepare a weekly delay report for the operations head; coordinate with drivers on WhatsApp for proof-of-delivery photos." Same job, but now it shows scale, tools, responsibility and communication.

Notice that the rewrite did not exaggerate anything. It simply replaced vague words with what the person actually did every day. Most resumes can be improved this way in under an hour.

Before every application, run through a short check. It takes less time than writing a message to a recruiter and prevents the most embarrassing errors.

Do this especially when you are applying to many jobs in one sitting, because that is when people attach the wrong version or forget to update the objective.

• Phone number and email are correct and active
• Objective names the role you are applying for
• Latest job and dates are on the first half of page one
• Every skill listed is one you can explain
• No spelling errors in headings or company names
• PDF opens correctly on your phone

Once your resume is clean, upload it to your job portal profile so recruiters see the updated version. On BetterJobs, uploading a resume fills in your profile automatically, and you can apply with one click. It is free for job seekers.

It is also worth asking someone who hires, or a senior in your field, to look at your resume for two minutes and tell you what they noticed first. If their answer is not your strongest skill or latest role, move that information higher. Fresh eyes catch problems you have stopped seeing.

Then apply to roles that match the resume you have built rather than to everything you see. Browse jobs by category or jobs by experience to narrow your search.

Keep a simple record of where you applied, so that when a recruiter calls you know which role and which version of your resume they are looking at. A note in your phone or a small spreadsheet with company, role, date and source is enough.

Some candidates who get few calls become targets for fake recruiters who promise a guaranteed job for a fee. A genuine employer or job portal will not ask you to pay for an offer letter, interview slot, training kit or "refundable deposit".

If someone asks for money, an OTP or your bank details, stop the conversation. Verify the company independently, and remember that a well-written resume and steady applications are what get genuine calls.