Common entry-level resume mistakes (and how to fix them)

By: Keith Spencer, Career Expert with AI resume builder Resume Now

The role you land directly after college is your launching point for your professional career. This means that your entry-level resume is your first opportunity to make a strong impression on employers and demonstrate your potential for future success. While you might not have as much experience to include as a mid-career professional, you have a chance to leverage your coursework, campus and community involvement, internships, and part-time jobs to showcase the skills and competencies you bring to the table. Highlighting these experiences shows that you’re reliable, eager to learn, and ready to positively contribute to a team.

Because you’re in the unique position of marketing your skills and education rather than extensive experience, it’s understandable that crafting an entry-level resume can feel intimidating. To help ease that anxiety and set you up for success, let’s look at some of the most common mistakes new graduates make and how you can avoid or fix them.

Mistake 1: Using a Generic or Unfocused Resume

One of the biggest mistakes anyone can make, especially entry-level candidates, is submitting a generic, one-size-fits-all resume. Just as you were taught to consider your audience when writing essays in school, the same principle applies here. Think about who will be reading your resume: What are their priorities? What problems are they trying to solve? What skills or qualities are they hoping to add to their team?

These questions should guide not only what you include, but how you present it. Review each job description carefully and look for clues about what the employer values most. Use your base resume as a foundation, make a copy of that file for each new application, and then tailor that copy to highlight the experiences and skills that best align with the employer’s needs. Don’t leave it up to the hiring manager to connect the dots. You need to make it clear why your background makes you a strong fit for the role they are looking to fill.

Mistake 2: Listing Responsibilities Instead of Accomplishments

Another common mistake early-career professionals make is listing the responsibilities of past experiences rather than emphasizing their accomplishments or positive contributions. Employers don’t just want to know what you did; they want to know how you did it, why it mattered, and what results you achieved. If your resume reads like a job description, you’re selling yourself short.

When writing accomplishment-based bullet points, use a storytelling framework like STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) or CAR (Challenge, Action, Result). These models help you provide context, explain your actions, and highlight measurable achievements and tangible outcomes from internships, class projects, volunteer work, or part-time roles. Showing the purpose, process, and outcome of your work is far more compelling than simply listing the tasks you performed.

Mistake 3: Overloading with Unrelated Experience

You might be thinking, “I don’t have much experience, so I should include every job or activity I’ve ever done.” But the problem is that people have limited attention spans. The goal of your resume is to demonstrate your fit for the specific job at hand, which means focusing on the most relevant and impactful information for each employer. While a one-page resume is no longer a strict requirement, that doesn’t mean you should use extra space just because you can.

You don’t need to create a brand-new resume for every application, but don’t hesitate to heavily edit a copy of your base resume each time. Add or remove experiences, rephrase or reorder bullet points, and adjust which skills, certifications, or qualifications you emphasize or omit based on the job description. These refinements ensure that your resume communicates your fit clearly and concisely, without wasting the employer’s time or losing their interest.

Mistake 4: Neglecting Formatting and Readability 

Overlooking the importance of readability is another common mistake. If your layout is cluttered, your fonts are inconsistent, or you use excessive design elements, you’re more likely to confuse your reader than get them interested in your candidacy. Recruiters and hiring managers often scan resumes in seconds, so poor formatting can land you in the “no” pile before you’ve been given a fair look.

Because many organizations now use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to collect and organize applications, it’s also crucial that your resume is easily parsed by these tools. A simple, clean format with consistent spacing, a standard font, clear section headers, and bullet points to organize your experience helps the ATS scan your information accurately and prevents a qualified resume from being overlooked by the employer. 

Mistake 5: Ignoring the Importance of Keywords

Since many employers use an ATS, it’s essential to pay attention to the keywords and phrases you include in your resume. Most ATS tools can parse your document and make your application searchable within a database. This means recruiters and hiring managers can filter applicants by specific terms, and if your resume doesn’t include them, you may be overlooked. Some systems can even score or rank your resume based on how well it matches the language in the job description.

This is why it’s so important to study each job description and align your language with what the employer is looking for. Tailoring your resume, including mirroring key terms and phrases, helps demonstrate your fit and increases your likelihood of being found in keyword searches. Just don’t fall into the trap of “keyword stuffing,” where you cram in terms without meaningful context. You don’t need to include every word from the job description; just focus on incorporating the most relevant ones in a natural, accurate way.

Mistake 6: Forgetting to Proofread 

The last, and arguably most avoidable, mistake you can make is failing to proofread your resume before submitting it. Typos, grammatical errors, and formatting inconsistencies can make you appear careless or unprofessional, giving the impression that you lack attention to detail. It may seem minor, but mistakes like these are often a fast track to rejection.

Before submitting any application, review your resume and other materials multiple times and with multiple strategies, like the ones outlined on FlexJobs’ work from home jobs site. Reading your document aloud can help you catch errors you might otherwise miss. It’s also helpful to have someone else, like a mentor, friend, or career advisor, look it over, since we tend to overlook mistakes in our own writing. No matter your approach, take the time to proofread carefully and make sure your materials are polished before you hit “submit.”

Conclusion

Even though resume writing can feel overwhelming, avoiding these common mistakes goes a long way in helping you present your experience clearly and confidently. A strong resume isn’t about perfection; it’s about clarity, relevance, and intention. When you take the time to tailor your content to your reader’s needs, focus on readability, highlight results, and proofread carefully, you give employers every reason to take your application seriously. 

Remember, your resume is a living document. It will evolve as you gain experience, shift directions, or refine your goals. With each update, you’re not just improving a piece of paper, you’re strengthening your ability to tell your career story in a way that resonates. Keep going, keep refining, and trust that these small improvements can make a meaningful difference in your job search.