Bad Resume Examples: Common Mistakes & How to Fix Them

You’ve been sending out job applications left and right, but it feels like they’re disappearing into a black hole, doesn’t it? 

But what’s exactly going wrong? Chances are, it’s not because you’re unqualified or not good enough (because you absolutely are).

More likely, your resume has mistakes that are getting it ignored or rejected before it even reaches a hiring manager.

To help you avoid the most damaging resume mistakes, I’ve put together real bad resume examples with a breakdown of exactly what goes wrong in each and how to fix it. 

Let’s get started. 

What Makes a Resume “Bad”?

A bad resume is one that fails to do what a resume is supposed to do: convince the reader you’re the perfect fit for the job. 

It is unfocused, cluttered, missing key information, or worse, stuffed with fluff that hiring managers can see right through.

Bad resumes aren’t always riddled with typos or formatted like a chaotic Word document. 

In fact, many of them appear fine at first glance, they have work experience, skills, education, everything.

But the difference between good vs bad resume examples is impact. A bad resume lacks impact.

Why a Poor Resume Can Cost You Job Opportunities?

Hiring managers don’t sit down with a cup of coffee, put their feet up, and leisurely read every resume that comes in.

They skim fast before deciding whether to move forward or discard your application.

A weak resume costs you because:

• It doesn’t communicate value fast enough. You’re out when your key qualifications aren’t clear in the first few lines. 
• It makes them work too hard. A messy layout or walls of text mean extra effort for the reader, and frankly, no one has time for that.
• It doesn’t match the job posting. If you use a generic resume that doesn’t target the specific job, ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems) won’t even let it reach a human.

Common Signs of a Weak Resume

If you’re wondering whether your resume falls into the “bad” category, here are a few signs to watch out for: 

• It’s a boring list of job duties than what you actually accomplished
• It’s too generic, i.e., you applied to 50 other jobs with the same resume
• It’s overloaded with resume buzzwords that lack substance (Dynamic team player with a results-driven mindset who thinks outside the box.” Okay, but what did you do?)
• It’s hard to read because of bad formatting, tiny fonts, and walls of text 
• It’s full of unnecessary info (high school awards, hobbies, and an objective statement from 2008, do they really sell you as the best candidate?

How Hiring Managers and ATS Filter Out Bad Resumes?

Before a hiring manager even lays eyes on your resume, it often has to pass through an Applicant Tracking System. 

ATS software scans resumes for specific keywords related to the job description. 

If your resume doesn’t include enough relevant terms, it will be automatically rejected, regardless of how qualified you actually are.

Many people use the same resume for every job they apply for, only to find they rarely get responses.

Even if your resume makes it past the ATS, hiring managers apply their own filters. 

They often glance at the top third of the resume first, which should ideally contain your most compelling qualifications, otherwise, they may not continue reading.

Recruiters are also wary of red flags, such as unexplained employment gaps or a history of frequent job changes without a clear progression. 

While these aren’t automatic deal-breakers, a weak resume that doesn’t address them raises concerns.

7 Bad Resume Examples & How to Fix Them

Now, let’s look at some bad resume examples that seriously hurt your chances of landing a job, if not eliminate them altogether.

1. The Too-Long Resume

If a recruiter opens your resume and is immediately hit with a three-page wall of text with dense paragraphs and bullet points stretching into essays, they’ll close the file fast. 

Eye tracking research shows that recruiters skim a resume in 6–7 seconds before deciding if it’s worth a deep read. 

If your key qualifications are buried under unnecessary details, they’ll never get seen.

Listing every job, project, and skill you’ve ever had doesn’t make you look impressive, instead, you look unfocused. 

A recruiter should instantly grasp your expertise and career trajectory from your resume without feeling like they’re reading a novel.

If you have less than 10 years of experience, a one-page resume is all you need.

Only go to two pages if you have a highly technical or executive-level background that truly requires it.

2. The Generic, One-Size-Fits-All Resume

A one-size-fits-all resume is the quickest way to land in the rejection pile. 

If your resume looks like a generic template you blast to 50 companies, recruiters can tell. And guess what, they’re not impressed.

Hiring managers get dozens, sometimes hundreds, of applications per role. If your resume looks like everyone else’s, why would they remember you?

Loading a resume with vague descriptions like “detail-oriented team player” and not mentioning the specific results or numbers you generated literally screams, “I’m just throwing this out there and hoping for the best.”

Now, I don’t mean you rewrite it from scratch every time, but you must tweak key sections. 

Adjust your summary, skills, and bullet points to reflect the exact requirements of the job you’re applying for.

3. The Overloaded Resume with Too Much Text

I get it, you may have too many experiences under your belt and it’s natural to want them to squeeze into your resume.

But your resume isn’t a biography, it’s a highlight reel. 

Resorting to long paragraphs, excessive details, and tiny fonts to fit everything in will only make your resume disorganized and difficult to read. 

And when you cram too much text into your resume, you also risk overshadowing your biggest achievements. 

A high school public library internship, for instance, won’t reflect your current expertise as well as a recent company project that you managed independently, right?

Also, being concise is a skill.

A bloated resume suggests that you don’t know how to prioritize or communicate effectively, which basically are red flags in any job.

4. The Unprofessional Email Address Resume

We’ve all had at least one cringeworthy email address in our lives from the middle school gaming phase or the emo era. It was funny back then.

But if that same email is sitting at the top of your resume, it’s not funny anymore. 

Put yourself in the shoes of a recruiter for a second, deciding between two equally qualified candidates. 

One has [email protected] listed in their contact section, while the other is [email protected].

Who looks more professional? Who seems like the safer bet?

Unfair as it may be, people make snap judgments.

If your email address raises eyebrows, your resume might not even get read. 

So, you want to stick to your real name in your email address.

Also, Gmail is the current gold standard. 

If you’re still using Hotmail, AOL, or Yahoo, it may give off “stuck in the past” vibes.

5. The Resume Without Keywords (Fails ATS Screening)

You could be the perfect candidate for a job with tons of experience and solid achievements.

But if your resume is missing the right keywords, it will never even reach a human being.

Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are the gatekeepers of modern hiring.

These systems scan resumes for specific words and phrases from the job description. 

If your resume doesn’t have them, it gets filtered out before a recruiter ever sees it.

As I mentioned previously, you can’t blast the same resume to every job application.

The job posting is your cheat sheet. 

Identify key phrases and skills needed in the candidate, then weave them naturally into your resume, especially in your skills, work experience, and summary sections.

6. The Resume With No Achievements (Just Duties Listed)

Even though I just mentioned that the job description is your cheat sheet, if your resume reads exactly like a job description, you’re doing it wrong.

Too many resumes make this mistake.

They list out what they were responsible for but never show what they actually accomplished. 

If your resume says “Managed customer inquiries and complaints.” So do hundreds of others. What makes you different? Nothing.

Hiring managers don’t just want to see what you were supposed to do, they want proof of how well you did it.

Start each bullet point with strong verbs like led, implemented, improved, optimized, boosted, generated, etc.

Metrics grab attention. Even if your job wasn’t directly tied to numbers, find a way to quantify  the impact you made. 

1. The Visually Unappealing or Hard-to-Read Resume

A resume with five different fonts, neon colors, text crammed into the margins, and formatting so chaotic it looks like a bad PowerPoint slide is another one among bad resume examples. 

Recruiters don’t have time to play detective. If your resume is ugly or hard to read, no one is going to bother with it.

Pick one professional font (Calibri, Arial, Helvetica) and stick with it. Keep it 10-12pt for body text, 14-16pt for headings. You can add a subtle accent color, but tone any dark color down. 

Always make sure you save your resume in a pdf format. Word documents mess up formatting on different computers. 

How to Turn a Bad Resume Into a Winning One

The first thing you need to do to fix a bad resume is strip out anything that doesn’t add value. 

If your experience reads like a list of tasks, rewrite it to focus on measurable impact.

Numbers, results, and specific achievements make all the difference.

Ensure your resume is tailored for the job you’re applying to. 

If the job description calls for “project management,” and your resume says “oversaw tasks,” you’re missing an opportunity to match the language hiring managers are looking for, even though both phrases mean the same.

Formatting a resume is just as important. Keep it clean, use clear section headings, and make sure your most valuable information is at the top. 

If your resume has employment gaps or career changes, address them strategically.

Frame the time you took off positively by highlighting transferable skills gained during that period. 

Finally, don’t overlook your contact information and branding. Your email should be professional, and if relevant, include a LinkedIn profile or portfolio link.

How to Make Your Resume Stand Out in 10 Seconds

Fixing the bad resume examples we talked about earlier has never been easier. 

Using Undetectable.AI resume builder, all you have to do is: 

• Select a template from good resume examples
• Let AI fine-tune the content
• Download your resume that is visually appealing and ATS-friendly 

The AI editor incorporates industry-specific keywords and refines your bullet points into measurable achievements in a professional format. 

And here’s where it gets even better: Instead of spending hours applying manually, you can use undetectable.ai’s Auto Applier to submit your optimized resume across multiple job listings. 

The more applications you submit strategically, the higher your chances of securing interviews.

How AI Can Help You Fix a Bad Resume?

Another way to improve a weak resume is by running it through an AI chat and getting instant, unbiased feedback that you won’t catch on your own. 

Unlike human reviewers who may take hours (or days) to get back to you, the AI chat will scan it for you in seconds and provide specific suggestions that you can apply immediately. 

Also, it’s difficult for a lot of us to write in a naturally professional tone. Many resumes either come off as robotic, stuffed with corporate jargon and awkward phrasing, or too casual.

You can try using Undetectable AI humanizer to refine your language so your resume reads smoothly and sounds human while still being optimized for ATS.

Wrapping Up!

It’s natural to make mistakes, but some mistakes are major blunders that are better left unmade, especially on your resume. 

The bad resume examples we looked at today all contain completely avoidable resume mistakes, but only if you know how to fix them.

And, like most things, you don’t need AI to write your entire resume from scratch.

But you can get a competitive edge by using Undetectable AI to refine and optimize your application.

So if you want to stand out from other candidates, try Undetectable AI’s resume builder for free today.