3 Resume / CV Mistakes That Get You Screened Out in the First Round

Resumes / CVs most often die in the first round. These are the three mistakes I see most often:

1. Listing only what you did
2. Not answering the question
3. Being too honest

1. Listing only what you did

"I held this many meetings."

"I led several trade shows."

"I compiled the project's regular reports."

That's what you did, not what you achieved. Take the same experience: "ran trade shows" versus "brought in X leads from one show and closed Y deals." Those read like two resumes at different levels.

Here's a counterexample. I recently saw a resume from someone early in their career where every bullet carried two or three percentages: +25%, +40%, −60%, all the way down the page. The numbers looked suspiciously neat, and the whole thing looked like it had come from a template. Having no numbers loses you points. Numbers that look fake lose you even more.

2. Not answering the question

The job description (JD) is in English

→ You send a resume in Chinese

The JD asks for "3+ years of management experience"

→ You write "led a five-person project team"

Project management and people management are two different things.

Some mistakes are less obvious: two versions of your resume with two different email addresses, or a whole paragraph pasted in twice without you noticing. These won't get you rejected, but they make people wonder whether you check your work before you hand it in.

3. Being too honest

The company offers one work-from-home day a week

→ You say "I'm looking for a remote job"

What HR is thinking: then can you handle the other four days in the office?

"My manager and I didn't get along, so I want to leave."

→ What the hiring manager thinks: I'm not perfect either. Will I be the next manager you don't get along with?

I have actually seen someone write "I still want to go back to working inside an organization" on a resume. That tells the employer outright: the situation I'm in now wasn't my choice. Salary negotiations haven't even started, and you've already undercut yourself.

A resume isn't an autobiography. It's an exam.

Work out what kind of person this company is looking for, then answer.

You're not being asked to write an essay. You're being asked to get the answer right.

This post in Chinese: https://www.uncleric.com/2026/08/three-cv-mistakes.html

I'm Eric Lu ("Uncle Eric"). I write about food, travel, and careers.