Quote from Kevin Gallagher on March 6, 2025, 2:13 am

Let’s be honest: your resume might be a hot mess. And that’s okay—most people’s are. But if you’re tired of getting ghosted by hiring managers, it’s time to fix it. Whether your resume looks like a relic from the MySpace era or you’ve committed crimes against formatting, we’re here to help.

1. Your Resume is Longer Than a CVS Receipt

Nobody (and I mean nobody) wants to read a five-page resume. Unless you’ve cured diseases, walked on the moon, or single-handedly saved your company from bankruptcy, keep it to one page (two max if you’re really experienced). Hiring managers are skimming, not reading your life story.

Fix It:

• Cut irrelevant jobs from 15 years ago—no one cares about your high school lifeguard gig.
• Bullet points, not essays. Keep descriptions short and results-focused.
• Ditch outdated skills (looking at you, “Proficient in Microsoft Word”).

2. Your Formatting is a Crime Against Humanity

If your resume is a jumble of different fonts, weird spacing, and rainbow-colored headings, it’s an instant “no.” A hiring manager should not need a decoder ring to figure out where one job ends and another begins.

Fix It:

• Stick to one professional font (Calibri, Arial, Times New Roman if you're feeling fancy).
• Use consistent formatting—dates, job titles, and bullet points should all align.
• Keep it black and white—unless you’re in a creative field, no neon headers, please.

3. Your Skills Section is Either Useless or Embarrassing

Listing “Team Player” and “Hard Worker” tells an employer nothing about what you actually bring to the table. And if you’re adding “Email” as a skill, I’m calling the police.

Fix It:

• Focus on specific, relevant skills: “SEO Optimization,” “Data Analysis,” “Project Management.”
• Be honest—don’t list “Fluent in French” unless you can order more than a croissant.
• Tailor your skills to match the job posting (without lying, obviously).

4. You’re Using the Same Resume for Every Job

If you’re blasting the same generic resume to 200 job postings and hearing nothing back, that’s why. Hiring managers can smell a copy-paste application from a mile away.

Fix It:

• Customize every resume. Match keywords from the job posting.
• Adjust your summary and key skills to align with the role.
• Show how your past experience directly applies to the job you want.

5. Your Contact Info is... Concerning

If your email is still something like hotguy69@email.com or partygirl420@yahoo.com, I have bad news for you. Also, no one is calling you if you forgot to update your phone number from 2017.

Fix It:

• Use a professional email: firstname.lastname@gmail.com
• Double-check your phone number. One wrong digit, and you’re missing interviews.
• Ditch your full home address—city and state are fine.

Your Resume is Your Ticket In—Make It Count

Your resume isn’t a scrapbook of your entire career—it’s a sales pitch for why you’re the right fit for a specific job. Make it clear, concise, and not embarrassing.

And if you’re still struggling, don’t worry—Incognito.Careers has tools to analyze, optimize, and fix your resume faster than you can say “job offer.”