Your Resume Probably Sucks — Here’s How to Fix It (From a Recruiter’s Perspective)

Let’s be honest: your resume might be working against you. Maybe you spent hours on a Canva template with rainbow fonts and fancy sidebars. Maybe you crammed every job you’ve ever had onto two cluttered pages and hit send 87 times.

And… crickets.

Don’t panic. Here’s the good stuff, recruiter-approved, and served with a side of real talk.

🎨 Stop the Canva Madness

Yes, that bold teal sidebar looks cool. No, recruiters don’t care. They want clean, easy-to-read black-and-white Word docs. Unless you’re a graphic designer or artist, keep it classic: one column, standard fonts, no neon, no weird squiggles. The robots (aka ATS) can’t read your fancy layout anyway and humans don’t want to fight with it either.

🤖 Make It Robot-Friendly

Most companies use an ATS (Applicant Tracking System) that scans your resume before a human ever sees it. If your contact info is shoved into a horizontal banner, the robot goes: “Nope.”

Stack your name, phone number, email, and LinkedIn vertically. Give the ATS a break and it’ll give you a fighting chance.

✂️ Cut the Fluff

“Team player.” “Hard worker.” “Passionate go-getter.” Stop. Everyone says this. It’s white noise for recruiters.

Instead, show the proof. Swap clichés for specific skills, results, and metrics. Did you increase sales by 25%? Manage a project with 10 team members across 3 continents? That’s what gets you hired.

🧩 Customize or Die

One-size-fits-all resumes belong in the recycle bin. Every job description wants something slightly different. Read it. Figure out what they want. Rewrite your bullet points so they match. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel.  Just make it relevant.

🔄 Tweak It Until It Works

Still hearing crickets? Time to switch it up. Try a new template (still plain, still Word). Rewrite that summary. Bring your best stuff to the top. Apply for roles that truly fit your skills.

The worst resume is the one you keep sending that’s not working. Be brave and change it up!

🏆  Quick Fix Checklist

✔️ Simple, single-column template✔️ Stacked contact info✔️ Bullets, not paragraphs✔️ Action verbs and hard numbers✔️ Tailored for each application✔️ Tweak and repeat until you hear back

✨ Final Pep Talk

Your resume is a foot in the door, not your life story. Keep it clear, honest, and easy on the eyes for both robots and humans. My advice keeps you out of the “No” pile and into the “Let’s talk!” pile.