10 CV Mistakes That Get You Rejected Instantly

The 10 most common CV mistakes

**1. Two-column layout.** The single most common ATS killer. Parsers read left to right and mix up your content.

**2. Tables for layout.** Using a table to position your dates on the right side breaks most parsers.

**3. Text boxes.** Content inside a Word text box is invisible to ATS software.

**4. Your photo.** In the US and UK, photos are not expected and can trigger bias-prevention filters that automatically reject the CV.

**5. Headers and footers.** Content in Word headers and footers is often ignored by parsers. Put your name and contact details in the main body.

**6. Graphics and icons.** Skill bars, LinkedIn icons, location pins — all invisible to parsers.

**7. Non-standard fonts.** Stick to Calibri, Arial, Times New Roman or Georgia. Decorative fonts sometimes fail to render in parsing engines.

**8. Typos in company names.** ATS systems match against known company databases. Misspelling "McKinsey" means losing the brand recognition points.

**9. No keywords from the job description.** If the job says "stakeholder management" and your CV says "managing relationships", the ATS may score you zero for that requirement.

**10. PDF when Word is better.** Most portals handle .docx more reliably. Check the job portal's preference.