After 5+ years of reviewing, revising, and writing resumes for professionals at all levels, I’ve learned that many of the mistakes I see are common amongst many resumes. So, to help de-code the mystery a little bit, I’ve compiled a list of the 7 most common mistakes I see, and how to avoid them.

1. Using an Objective

The term “objective” is used to convey something you want, and while that may be important to you, it is not a priority for most hiring managers. While the term “objective” used to be commonly used on resumes, it’s now become a pet peeve for a lot of recruiters and hiring managers, and they’ll often “tune out” if they see that term used at the top of a resume.

Instead of an Objective, it’s better to use a Professional Summary or Profile to convey  the “big picture” idea of who you are as a professional, what you’re good at, and what you’re known for.

This section should also include as many industry-relevant skills/keywords as possible, in order to help you in online applications, where most companies are using Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to screen resumes, and those ATS are programmed to find resumes that achieve a certain percentage keyword match between the resume and the job description. Including relevant skills also helps to pique the interest of real human beings reviewing your resume.

2. Not including summary/profile/skills at all

While it’s not advisable to start your resume with an Objective, it’s also not advisable to start directly out with your Education or Work Experience. Starting with those sections doesn’t do much to provide the reader with any sort of insight into who you are.

And while it’s true that employers are much more interested in what you can do for them, they’re also much more likely to invest time in your resume if there’s some sort of “hook” to get them started.

So, again, using a Profile/Summary section is a great way to give them a “big picture” idea of what you can offer, in order to get them more interested in reading the rest of your experience and skills.

3. Including Skills at the Bottom of the Resume (Instead of the Top)

So, we’ve established that industry-relevant skills/keywords are important for (a) online applications and (b) having actual recruiters/hiring managers reviewing your resume.

While the positioning of those keywords doesn’t make a whole lot of difference to the ATS, it DOES make a big difference to a real human being. Skills added to the bottom of your resume are MUCH more likely to be overlooked than skills included in the top 1/3 of the first page.

4. Not Including Achievements

Including your accomplishments/ achievements/ recognitions, etc. from you career experience is a great way to help elevate yourself above other candidates with similar experience. It shows recruiters/hiring managers that you not only know how to do the job, but you pride yourself in doing it well and going above-and-beyond to get it done right.

Just as important as including your achievements in HOW you include them. I see many resumes where the achievements are separated out into a section by themselves. I think the though process behind this is to make those achievements stand out more, but what it actually creates a loss of context so readers don’t have a full picture of your career timeline and when those achievements occurred.

Instead, it’s best to include your achievements under whichever job you held at the time the achievement occurred. You can still make them stand out by changing the formatting to make them more noticeable.

5. Dates on the Wrong Side

Most ATS are programmed to search for employment dates on the right-hand side of the page. Listing them elsewhere could result in those dates being overlooked, and possibly your resume being thrown out all together.

Also, most hiring managers and recruiters prefer to find your dates listed along the right-hand column because it makes them easy to spot without having to work too hard.

6. Using First-Person Language

Even though your resume is supposed to be about you, using first person language like ‘I’, ‘me’, and ‘my’ is not advisable. But you also don’t want to revert to referring to your self in the third-person by using ‘he’ or ‘she’. Instead, it’s common practice in resumes to omit those words entirely, so instead of saying, “I am an engineer with over 10 years’ experience”, you would say, “Engineer with over 10 years’ experience”.

7. Including Personal Information (Photo, Age/DOB, Marital Status, Kids, etc.)

This kind of personal information doesn’t belong on a resume. These days, employers are very wary about engaging in practices which may open them up to liabilities and/or accusations of discrimination.

Because of this, most employers will often throw out resumes including photos, mentions of age, marital status, etc. By choosing not to deal with these resume at all, they eliminate the chance of appearing to discriminate on the basis of age, gender, race, sexual orientation, etc.