Resumeva resources

Bad resume examples — and how to fix them

Eight common problems, shown one section at a time so the text stays readable. Each example enlarges the part of the resume that is failing, shows the corrected version using exactly the same candidate facts, and explains what changed and why.

All candidates, employers and details are fictional and written for Resumeva. These are readability and clarity guidelines designed for ATS readability — not universal requirements, and no employer outcome is guaranteed.

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Example 1 · Experience — one role

Vague responsibilities → measurable accomplishments

Fictional candidate: Nadia Ferrero, Customer Support Lead. The before and after keep exactly the same facts.

Spot the problem

This experience block lists the right work. What weakens it most?

Before — Duty list with no outcome

Customer Support Lead — Brightpath Software
Mar 2021 – Present · Lisbon, Portugal
Responsible for handling customer tickets and escalations.
Problem: No scale, no outcome
Worked with the product team on bug reports.
Problem: "Worked with" hides your contribution
Duties included training new support staff.
Problem: "Duties included" is job-description language

After — Same duties, written as results

Customer Support Lead — Brightpath Software
Mar 2021 – Present · Lisbon, Portugal
Handled ~40 tickets and 6 escalations weekly while keeping first-response time under 2 hours.
Correction: Same duty, now measurable
Triaged and reproduced 120+ bug reports with the product team, cutting duplicate tickets by a third.
Correction: Your action is visible
Trained 9 new support hires on the escalation playbook; all reached solo queue coverage within 3 weeks.
Correction: Ends in an outcome

View full resume (Nadia Ferrero)

NADIA FERRERO — Customer Support Lead
Lisbon, Portugal · nadia.ferrero@example.com · +351 900 000 000

SUMMARY
Support lead with 5 years in B2B SaaS, focused on escalation handling and onboarding new support staff.

EXPERIENCE
Customer Support Lead — Brightpath Software · Mar 2021 – Present
- Handled ~40 tickets and 6 escalations weekly while keeping first-response time under 2 hours.
- Triaged and reproduced 120+ bug reports with the product team, cutting duplicate tickets by a third.
- Trained 9 new support hires on the escalation playbook; all reached solo queue coverage within 3 weeks.

Support Specialist — Brightpath Software · Jun 2019 – Mar 2021
- Owned the billing queue and resolved refund disputes within one business day.

EDUCATION
BA Communication — University of Lisbon, 2019

SKILLS
Zendesk, Jira, SQL basics, escalation management, onboarding

Why this matters

A duty list reads the same for every person who has ever held the title. A reviewer comparing three support leads cannot tell them apart, so the resume gets skimmed rather than read.

How Resumeva helps

Resumeva flags responsibility-only bullets and asks you one evidence question at a time — volume, timeframe, before-and-after — then proposes a rewrite you approve or reject. It never invents a number for you.

Checklist

Problem detected: Every bullet describes an assigned duty rather than an outcome.
Why recruiters may overlook it: Duty language is interchangeable, so the reviewer has nothing to compare.
How it was corrected: Each bullet keeps its original task and adds the scale or result behind it.
Candidate facts preserved: Same employer, title, dates, location and responsibilities.
Designed for ATS readability: Plain bullets, standard section heading, no tables or text boxes.

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Example 2 · Experience — one role

Dense paragraphs → scannable bullet points

Fictional candidate: Tomas Kowalczyk, Logistics Coordinator. The before and after keep exactly the same facts.

Spot the problem

The content here is genuinely good. What is the problem?

Before — One long paragraph

Logistics Coordinator — Northwind Freight
Jan 2022 – Present · Kraków, Poland
In this position I coordinated inbound and outbound shipments across three warehouses and was also responsible for carrier negotiations where I reduced cost per pallet, while additionally maintaining the delivery tracker and reporting weekly to operations management on exceptions and delays, as well as supporting the seasonal hiring of temporary warehouse staff during peak periods.
Problem: One 62-word sentence hides four separate achievements

After — The same sentences, separated

Logistics Coordinator — Northwind Freight
Jan 2022 – Present · Kraków, Poland
Coordinated inbound and outbound shipments across three warehouses.
Correction: One idea per line
Negotiated carrier rates and lowered cost per pallet during contract renewals.
Maintained the delivery tracker and reported weekly exceptions to operations management.
Supported seasonal hiring of temporary warehouse staff through peak periods.

View full resume (Tomas Kowalczyk)

TOMAS KOWALCZYK — Logistics Coordinator
Kraków, Poland · tomas.kowalczyk@example.com · +48 500 000 000

EXPERIENCE
Logistics Coordinator — Northwind Freight · Jan 2022 – Present
- Coordinated inbound and outbound shipments across three warehouses.
- Negotiated carrier rates and lowered cost per pallet during contract renewals.
- Maintained the delivery tracker and reported weekly exceptions to operations management.
- Supported seasonal hiring of temporary warehouse staff through peak periods.

Warehouse Administrator — Northwind Freight · Aug 2019 – Jan 2022
- Processed goods-in paperwork and resolved stock discrepancies.

EDUCATION
BSc Transport and Logistics — AGH University, 2019

Why this matters

Reviewers scan the left edge of each line first. A paragraph gives them one entry point instead of four, so strong work gets skipped even when it is on the page.

How Resumeva helps

Resumeva detects paragraph-shaped experience entries and offers a split into separate bullets, keeping your original wording as the starting point rather than replacing it.

Checklist

Problem detected: Four achievements compressed into a single unbroken sentence.
Why recruiters may overlook it: Scanning reviewers read line openings; a paragraph offers only one.
How it was corrected: Split into four bullets with one idea each, wording unchanged.
Candidate facts preserved: Same employer, dates, warehouses, negotiations and hiring support.
Designed for ATS readability: Short bullet lines parse into distinct entries instead of one blob.

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Example 3 · Professional summary

Generic summary → targeted professional summary

Fictional candidate: Aisha Rahman, Data Analyst. The before and after keep exactly the same facts.

Spot the problem

Why will this summary rarely earn a second read?

Before — Could belong to anyone

Professional Summary
Hard-working and detail-oriented professional with excellent communication skills, seeking a challenging opportunity in a dynamic organisation where I can utilise my skills and grow professionally.
Problem: Says nothing only you could say

After — Specific to this candidate and this role

Professional Summary
Data analyst with 4 years in retail e-commerce. Builds SQL and dbt models behind weekly merchandising reporting, and works directly with buying teams on stock and margin questions.
Correction: Field, tenure, tools, who you work with — 30 words

View full resume (Aisha Rahman)

AISHA RAHMAN — Data Analyst
Manchester, UK · aisha.rahman@example.com

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY
Data analyst with 4 years in retail e-commerce. Builds SQL and dbt models behind weekly merchandising reporting, and works directly with buying teams on stock and margin questions.

EXPERIENCE
Data Analyst — Kerrow Retail Group · Feb 2023 – Present
- Owns the weekly merchandising report used by six buying teams.
- Rebuilt margin models in dbt, cutting refresh time from 40 to 9 minutes.

Junior Data Analyst — Kerrow Retail Group · Sep 2021 – Feb 2023
- Automated stock reconciliation between the warehouse system and the storefront.

EDUCATION
BSc Mathematics — University of Manchester, 2021

SKILLS
SQL, dbt, Python (pandas), Looker, Excel

Why this matters

The summary occupies the most valuable area of the page. Filled with adjectives, it delays the first real fact by several lines.

How Resumeva helps

Resumeva checks your summary against the roles already on your resume and suggests a version built from your own history — field, tenure, tools and focus — within a 30–80 word range.

Checklist

Problem detected: Adjective-only summary with no field, tenure, tools or focus.
Why recruiters may overlook it: Interchangeable openings get skipped on the way to Experience.
How it was corrected: Rewritten from facts already present further down the resume.
Candidate facts preserved: No new claims: the tools and tenure appear in Experience.
Designed for ATS readability: Plain paragraph under a standard "Professional Summary" heading.

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Example 4 · Experience — section order

Wrong experience order → reverse chronological order

Fictional candidate: Marcus Oyelaran, Mechanical Engineer. The before and after keep exactly the same facts.

Spot the problem

Nothing here is untrue. So what is wrong?

Before — Scattered ordering

Intern, Design Office — Halden Works · Jun 2016 – Sep 2016
Problem: A 10-year-old internship opens the section
Mechanical Engineer — Verity Systems · Apr 2023 – Present
Problem: Current role is third on the page
Graduate Engineer — Halden Works · Oct 2017 – Apr 2023

After — Newest role first

Mechanical Engineer — Verity Systems · Apr 2023 – Present
Correction: Most recent and most relevant, first
Graduate Engineer — Halden Works · Oct 2017 – Apr 2023
Intern, Design Office — Halden Works · Jun 2016 – Sep 2016
Correction: Kept, but reduced to one line

View full resume (Marcus Oyelaran)

MARCUS OYELARAN — Mechanical Engineer
Birmingham, UK · marcus.oyelaran@example.com

EXPERIENCE
Mechanical Engineer — Verity Systems · Apr 2023 – Present
- Owns tolerance analysis for two production assemblies.
- Cut prototype rework by redesigning a mounting bracket after field failures.

Graduate Engineer — Halden Works · Oct 2017 – Apr 2023
- Produced CAD models and drawings for sheet-metal enclosures.

Intern, Design Office — Halden Works · Jun 2016 – Sep 2016
- Supported drawing revisions for the enclosure product line.

EDUCATION
MEng Mechanical Engineering — University of Birmingham, 2017

Why this matters

Reviewers give the first entry the most attention. If it is an old internship, the resume argues that your best work is behind you.

How Resumeva helps

Resumeva sorts roles by end date, keeps "Present" roles at the top, and shows a warning when the order on the page contradicts the dates you entered.

Checklist

Problem detected: Roles appear in an order that does not follow their dates.
Why recruiters may overlook it: The first entry sets the reviewer's expectation of your level.
How it was corrected: Reordered newest first; older roles shortened, not removed.
Candidate facts preserved: All three roles, employers and dates remain on the resume.
Designed for ATS readability: Consistent "Title — Employer · Dates" pattern on every entry.

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Example 5 · Skills

Too many soft skills → relevant, verifiable skills

Fictional candidate: Julia Brenner, Financial Analyst. The before and after keep exactly the same facts.

Spot the problem

What is the underlying problem with this skills section?

Before — Adjectives in a skills section

Skills
Team player · Hard working · Motivated · Detail-oriented · Good communicator · Fast learner · Problem solver · Multitasking · Reliable · Creative
Problem: Ten claims, none verifiable

After — Skills a reviewer can check

Skills
Financial modelling · Three-statement forecasting · Variance analysis · Budget consolidation
Correction: Named capabilities
Excel (Power Query, pivot models) · SQL · Power BI · NetSuite
Correction: Tools the role actually uses
Reporting cycles: monthly close, quarterly reforecast
Correction: Context, not adjectives

View full resume (Julia Brenner)

JULIA BRENNER — Financial Analyst
Vienna, Austria · julia.brenner@example.com

EXPERIENCE
Financial Analyst — Aldercrest Group · May 2022 – Present
- Runs the monthly close pack and quarterly reforecast for two business units.
- Rebuilt the budget consolidation model in Excel Power Query, saving two days per cycle.

Finance Associate — Aldercrest Group · Jan 2020 – May 2022
- Prepared variance commentary for departmental budget owners.

EDUCATION
BSc Finance — Vienna University of Economics and Business, 2019

SKILLS
Financial modelling, three-statement forecasting, variance analysis, budget consolidation,
Excel (Power Query, pivot models), SQL, Power BI, NetSuite

Why this matters

Skills sections are read as a checklist against the role. Personal adjectives return no matches and take the space named tools would have used.

How Resumeva helps

Resumeva separates personal qualities from demonstrable skills, and when you paste a job description it shows which named skills you already have and which are genuinely missing.

Checklist

Problem detected: Skills section lists personal traits rather than capabilities or tools.
Why recruiters may overlook it: Reviewers match this section to requirements; adjectives match nothing.
How it was corrected: Grouped into capabilities, tools and reporting cycles.
Candidate facts preserved: Only skills evidenced elsewhere in the resume are listed.
Designed for ATS readability: Simple delimited text lines, no icons, ratings or bar charts.

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Example 6 · Header and contact block

Overdesigned layout → structure built for readability

Fictional candidate: Devi Prakash, Graphic Designer. The before and after keep exactly the same facts.

Spot the problem

Which choice here is most likely to lose information in processing?

Before — Decoration in front of the facts

[ photo ] [ skill rating bars ] [ sidebar table ]
Problem: Contact details sit inside a graphic sidebar
✉ ☏ ⌂ icons only, no labels
Problem: Icons carry no text for a parser
Name rendered as a logo image
Problem: Text inside an image cannot be extracted
Two-column body with content flowing across columns
Problem: Reading order can interleave

After — Same header, machine-readable

Devi Prakash — Graphic Designer
Correction: Name as real text
Bengaluru, India · devi.prakash@example.com · +91 90000 00000 · linkedin.com/in/deviprakash
Correction: Contact details as one plain line
Portfolio: deviprakash.example.com
Correction: Written out, not hidden behind an icon
Single-column body; visual personality kept in the portfolio, not the resume file.

View full resume (Devi Prakash)

DEVI PRAKASH — Graphic Designer
Bengaluru, India · devi.prakash@example.com · +91 90000 00000
linkedin.com/in/deviprakash · Portfolio: deviprakash.example.com

EXPERIENCE
Graphic Designer — Lumen Studio · Jul 2021 – Present
- Designs campaign systems for four retail clients, from concept to print-ready artwork.
- Built a reusable brand-asset library adopted by the studio's three-person design team.

Junior Designer — Lumen Studio · Aug 2019 – Jul 2021
- Produced social and packaging artwork under art-director review.

EDUCATION
BDes Communication Design — Srishti Manipal Institute, 2019

SKILLS
Figma, Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, brand systems, print production

Why this matters

Design is judged in your portfolio. The resume file's job is to survive being copied, parsed, printed and re-typed without losing your contact details.

How Resumeva helps

Resumeva templates keep the name and contact block as real text in a single reading order, and exports are tagged so the logical order is preserved. Parsing confidence is reported separately from your writing quality.

Checklist

Problem detected: Critical details are locked inside images, icons and a decorative sidebar.
Why recruiters may overlook it: If extraction fails, the reviewer may never see a working contact route.
How it was corrected: Name and contacts rewritten as plain text in a single column.
Candidate facts preserved: Same name, city, email, phone, LinkedIn and portfolio.
Designed for ATS readability: Single-column reading order, no image-only text, tagged export.

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Example 7 · Older role — depth of detail

Excessively long resume → focused, relevant content

Fictional candidate: Grace Lindqvist, Project Manager. The before and after keep exactly the same facts.

Spot the problem

The resume runs to three pages. What is actually causing it?

Before — A 2011 role with nine bullets

Administrative Assistant — Kestrel Print · Feb 2011 – Aug 2013
Problem: 13 years old and unrelated to the target role
Answered incoming telephone calls and directed them to staff.
Problem: Routine task, no signal
Ordered stationery and maintained the supplies cupboard.
Filed invoices and archived completed job folders.
…six further bullets of the same type
Problem: Pushes current work onto page three

After — Older role compressed, recent role expanded

Administrative Assistant — Kestrel Print · Feb 2011 – Aug 2013
Correction: Kept for continuity, one line
Office administration and invoice processing for a 20-person print business.
Correction: Whole role in one bullet
Project Manager — Aurora Health Tech · Sep 2021 – Present
Correction: Space returned to the role that matters
Runs delivery for two clinical-software rollouts across six hospital sites.
Coordinates a 9-person cross-functional team through fortnightly release cycles.

View full resume (Grace Lindqvist)

GRACE LINDQVIST — Project Manager
Gothenburg, Sweden · grace.lindqvist@example.com

EXPERIENCE
Project Manager — Aurora Health Tech · Sep 2021 – Present
- Runs delivery for two clinical-software rollouts across six hospital sites.
- Coordinates a 9-person cross-functional team through fortnightly release cycles.
- Reports scope, risk and budget status to the programme board each month.

Project Coordinator — Aurora Health Tech · Mar 2018 – Sep 2021
- Managed schedules and dependency tracking for the implementation team.

Office Manager — Kestrel Print · Aug 2013 – Mar 2018
- Ran office operations and supplier relationships for a 20-person business.

Administrative Assistant — Kestrel Print · Feb 2011 – Aug 2013
- Office administration and invoice processing for a 20-person print business.

EDUCATION
BA Business Administration — University of Gothenburg, 2010

Why this matters

Attention is finite. Every line an old role takes is a line your current work does not get, no matter how many pages you add.

How Resumeva helps

Resumeva weights roles by recency and relevance, suggesting 4–7 bullets for recent roles and 1–3 for older ones, and never penalises you simply for keeping an old job on the page.

Checklist

Problem detected: An old, unrelated role is given more detail than the current one.
Why recruiters may overlook it: Relevant recent work gets pushed past the point where reading stops.
How it was corrected: Older role compressed to a single line; current role expanded.
Candidate facts preserved: Every employer and date stays on the resume — nothing deleted.
Designed for ATS readability: Shorter, consistently structured entries parse more reliably.

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Example 8 · Experience — one role

Grammar and consistency problems → polished, consistent writing

Fictional candidate: Hugo Marchetti, Sales Executive. The before and after keep exactly the same facts.

Spot the problem

Which issue is a reviewer most likely to hold against this candidate?

Before — Mixed tense, mixed formats, typos

Sales Executive — Vantara Group
01/2022 - present · Milan
Problem: Date format differs from the role below (Mar 2019 – Jan 2022)
Manage a portfolio of 60 accounts.
Problem: Present tense
Grew renewals rate and reduced churn
Problem: Past tense, and no full stop
Responsible for reporting to the Head Of Sales on a monthy basis.
Problem: Typo ("monthy") and inconsistent capitalisation

After — One convention, applied everywhere

Sales Executive — Vantara Group
Jan 2022 – Present · Milan, Italy
Correction: Matches the format used by every other role
Manage a portfolio of 60 accounts across northern Italy.
Correction: Present tense for the current role
Grew the renewals rate and reduced churn across the portfolio.
Correction: Consistent punctuation
Report monthly on pipeline and renewal risk to the head of sales.
Correction: Typo fixed, capitalisation normalised

View full resume (Hugo Marchetti)

HUGO MARCHETTI — Sales Executive
Milan, Italy · hugo.marchetti@example.com

EXPERIENCE
Sales Executive — Vantara Group · Jan 2022 – Present
- Manage a portfolio of 60 accounts across northern Italy.
- Grew the renewals rate and reduced churn across the portfolio.
- Report monthly on pipeline and renewal risk to the head of sales.

Account Manager — Vantara Group · Mar 2019 – Jan 2022
- Managed renewals for mid-market accounts and handled upsell conversations.

EDUCATION
BA Economics — Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 2018

Why this matters

Consistency is the cheapest credibility on a resume. A reviewer who spots a typo starts looking for more instead of reading your achievements.

How Resumeva helps

Resumeva checks tense, date format, punctuation and capitalisation across every entry, flags malformed text, and shows word-level changes before anything is applied — corrections are always yours to approve.

Checklist

Problem detected: Mixed date formats and tenses, missing punctuation and a spelling error.
Why recruiters may overlook it: Small inconsistencies compound into an impression of carelessness.
How it was corrected: One date format, one tense per role, punctuation and spelling fixed.
Candidate facts preserved: Same employer, dates, portfolio size and reporting line.
Designed for ATS readability: Consistent date formats parse more reliably into role timelines.

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Find these problems in your own resume

Resumeva checks the same things you just read about, shows the evidence behind every finding and asks before changing a single word of your writing.

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Last reviewed 2026-08-08.