Dec 22, 2021

Resume Red Flags for Hiring Managers

As a hiring manager, you might be going through a ton of resumes before you land on a great looking resume that will eventually lead you to the right candidate. A resume gives you a good overview of the candidate and is usually the first point of reference that can make or break your impression of the candidate. Today we want to point out some resume red flags and resume warning signs to look for while reviewing candidates, which will help you understand the potential hire better.

The 10 most common red flags that are signs of a bad resume

1. Poor grammar/typos on resumes

Attention to detail such as proper punctuation, grammar, and spelling does set a candidate aside from the pack. A failure to follow these basic guidelines when applying for a position is a major red flag and the lack of attention to detail could be something that they carry forward toward to the job. If they’re unable to make use of the most important opportunity to create a positive impression, it may be a warning sign to take a pass. Based on this evidence, it might be hard for you as the hiring manager to have faith that the potential candidate will get it right if you employ them.

2. Poorly formatted resumes

Ideally resumes should be formatted for easy reading by hiring managers or recruiters and have clear sections marked out for work experience, education, or hobbies. Resumes that look like a wall of text are not the best when recruiters or hiring managers only have seconds to decide on a candidate. If a resume can’t get through the first screening quickly and has a ton of jargon that isn’t relevant to the position they applied for, it’s a sign of a bad resume.

3. Unexplained chronological gaps

Breaks in employment are not cause for major concern unless the candidate is unable to explain the gaps on the resume. A well-designed resume can explain huge gaps in the resume. For example, if they left their job in February and didn’t start the next job until December of the next year, they may highlight clearly that they were taking a course or using that time to travel.

4. Vague and generic job summaries

There could be many reasons as to why the resume looks generic or the job responsibilities listed may come across as generic. But this might be a red flag when it comes to hiring, and this is something you can definitely verify during a phone/video interview with the candidate. As a hiring manager, you ideally want to see resumes where the job title and the responsibilities match and are relevant to the position you’re currently hiring for.

5. Frequent job hopping

It’s not necessary that a candidate should be at the same job from employment to retirement, but if you see that the candidate has held a series of jobs for short period of time, that could be a warning sign. It could be a sign that the candidate is a problem employee or a chronic job hopper. Do look at the whole job history before you jump to conclusions as people may have valid reasons for leaving a job. But, if you see someone with 7 or 8 different jobs within the span of a year, that’s a resume red flag.

6. A stagnant career pattern

A series of different roles that doesn’t show increasing responsibility may indicate a problem such as a lack of ambition or that the person was not deemed fit for a promotion. That being said, sometimes an individual could also have really enjoyed their role and don’t necessarily need a career progression to add value to your team. This is something you could assess in a short phone screen.

7. Too many jargons or “weasel” wording

Weasel words are words which are intentionally ambiguous or misleading. For example, words like “participated in”, “supported the team” are obtuse words that doesn’t clearly define the role that a candidate played in the team. This brings up questions like, did the candidate work and contribute to the project or did they merely run errands and coordinate with someone who did?

8. Resumes that take advantage of the current employer

A resume or job application emailed from the current employer’s email address comes across as both thoughtless and a little tone-deaf. It is a resume red flag because it shows that the candidate maybe using the current employer’s time to job hunt. Resumes emailed from the current employer’s email, printed on their stationery, or stamped on an employer’s mailing machine is another huge red flag.

9. Too much emphasis on hobbies or interests It’s great that the potential candidate has hobbies and interests outside of work as they rightly should! But if you see an entire page or section of the resume dedicated to hobbies it could be a warning sign that they were trying to pad their resume because they didn’t have enough relevant experience to talk about.

10. Not quantifying achievements

Most job applicants are told not to be too wordy on their resumes, and recruiters or hiring managers receive thousands of applications on the daily which makes it hard to go through each application in detail. Hiring managers are looking for candidates who can effectively talk about relevant experience in detail and being able to back up this experience with data goes a long way in getting hired. If the resume is all words and jargons with no sign of quantitative data, it could be a potential red flag.

One thing to remember is that not all resumes are created equal, and sometimes it may take a direct conversation to understand more about the candidate’s resumes. A resume is where you form your first impression of the candidate, and an effective resume can provide the most significant and relevant information needed. So, the next time those resumes start rolling in, we hope you pay attention to the red flags mentioned above so that you’re able to find the best, most suited candidate for the position and the organization.