Recruiters spend seconds on a first pass, and small mistakes are enough to lose your spot. The frustrating part is that most are easy to fix. Here are eleven that quietly cost interviews.

Content mistakes 1. Listing duties, not achievements. "Responsible for sales" says nothing. Show results: what changed because you were there. 2. Being vague. "Improved efficiency" is weak. "Cut order processing time by 30 percent" is memorable. 3. A generic, one-size-fits-all resume. Tailor it to each role; matching the job's language matters. 4. Burying the best stuff. Your strongest, most relevant point should be near the top, not on page two. 5. An objective statement that says nothing. Replace it with a tight summary of what you offer.

Formatting mistakes 6. Too long. Most people need one page, two at most. Cut old, irrelevant roles ruthlessly. 7. Dense walls of text. Recruiters scan. Use short bullets and white space. 8. Fancy designs that break ATS parsing. Clever columns and graphics can make you invisible to the software. 9. Inconsistent formatting. Mismatched fonts, dates, and spacing read as careless.

Careless mistakes 10. Typos and grammar errors. They signal a lack of attention. Proofread, then have someone else read it. 11. A hard-to-find or unprofessional contact detail. Put a clear phone and professional email at the top, and skip the joke email address.

The fix Go through your resume against this list once. Lead with achievements, tailor to the role, keep it clean and short, and proofread relentlessly. A starting template that already handles the formatting frees you to focus on the words, which is where interviews are actually won.