1. You’re a Great Fit, But Your Resume Doesn’t Show It Clearly

The biggest hidden problem: you actually have relevant experience, but it’s buried or described in a way that doesn’t match what hiring teams are scanning for.

Signs this might be happening

• Your headline is generic (or missing entirely).
• Your job titles don’t resemble the roles you’re applying for.
• Your bullets read like a task list, not outcomes or results.

A recruiter might be looking at 100+ resumes for one role. If they can’t see “Yes, this person has done similar work” in the first 5–10 seconds, they move on.

2. Your Resume Is Light on Results and Heavy on Duties

Resumes that say “Responsible for…” over and over tend to blend together. Hiring managers want to see how you made things better, not just what you were in charge of.

Duty-style vs. result-style bullets

• Duty-based: “Responsible for managing customer support tickets.”
• Result-based: “Managed 40–50 customer support tickets per day while maintaining a 95% satisfaction score.”

You don’t need a number in every bullet, but you should show scale, complexity, or improvement whenever you can:

• How many? (clients, tickets, projects, locations).
• How often? (daily, weekly, monthly).
• What changed? (faster, cheaper, higher quality, more efficient).

3. ATS Can’t Read Your Resume Cleanly

Many companies use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to organize and search applications. If your resume is hard for software to parse, it may never show up when a recruiter searches for the skills you actually have.

Common ATS-unfriendly issues

• Heavy use of text boxes, columns, or graphics.
• Important details (like job titles) inside images instead of text.
• Overly complex layouts that scatter dates, titles, and company names.

You don’t need to make your resume ugly to fix this—you just need a clean structure:

• Standard section headings: “Experience,” “Education,” “Skills,” etc.
• Consistent formatting for job titles, companies, and dates.
• Text that reads from left to right in a simple order.

4. The Right Keywords Are Missing (Even If the Skills Aren’t)

ATS and humans both scan for specific words and phrases from the job description—especially job titles, tools, and certifications. If your resume uses different language for the same skills, you might not get credit for them.

Typical keyword mismatches

• “Spreadsheets” vs. “Microsoft Excel”
• “CRM software” vs. “Salesforce” or “HubSpot”
• “Project lead” vs. “Project Manager”
• “Electronic records” vs. “EMR/EHR”

When you read a job posting, pay attention to the exact wording they use for tools and responsibilities. Then, where it’s true for you, use the same language on your resume.

5. You’re Using One Generic Resume for Every Job

A “master” resume is useful, but sending the exact same version to every posting can hurt you—especially when roles focus on slightly different strengths (data heavy vs. client facing, for example).

Simple tailoring moves (that don’t take all day)

• Adjust your headline to match the role you’re applying for.
• Bump the most relevant bullets higher under each job.
• Highlight the 5–10 most relevant skills near the top of your Skills section.

These small tweaks help your resume feel like a direct response to the job, instead of a generic overview of your whole career.

6. Quick “Why Am I Not Getting Interviews?” Checklist

Before you blame yourself, run your resume through this quick checklist:

• ✔ Your headline clearly matches the type of roles you’re applying for.
• ✔ Your most recent experience emphasizes results, not just duties.
• ✔ You’ve included relevant numbers (volume, percentages, timelines) where possible.
• ✔ The layout is clean, mostly one column, and easy to skim.
• ✔ Section headings are standard and easy for ATS to recognize.
• ✔ Your skills use the same language as the job postings you’re targeting.
• ✔ Irrelevant or outdated skills are trimmed or moved down.
• ✔ You lightly tailor your resume for different roles instead of using one generic version.
• ✔ Your contact info is correct, professional, and easy to find.
• ✔ You’re applying to roles where you actually meet most of the core requirements.