If potential employers aren’t reacting to your resume as positively as you’d hoped they would, there’s a few potential reasons for that. One of those reasons is that it doesn’t contain the things they want to see. The other is that it contains things that they absolutely shouldn’t see. Does your resume contain any of these common blunders?

Guest author Joan Herbert.

Off-putting Personal Details

Maybe you’re very devout within your religion, or you spend a lot of time actively involved in dealings with a particular political party. Those things are fine in your personal life, but you may not want them to spill into your work life. Anything that can potentially be perceived as divisive should be stricken from your resume. Instead, include your love of gardening or reading classic literature. Those are far more agreeable.

Potentially Pretentious Language

You may want to showcase your intellectual abilities by spicing up your resume with complicated vocabulary. It’s okay to drop a few big words in, but if your entire resume looks like it was written with a thesaurus, most employers will interpret that as embellishment to make you seem better than you actually are. There’s nothing wrong with simple language. In fact, it helps the employer get to the point much quicker.

Overused Phrases

According to resumes, every single person is a highly motivated team player who is results oriented and a self-starter. HR professionals see these terms a hundred times a day, and they’re no more likely to believe them on your resume than they are on anyone else’s. Focus on what you do differently, and spend less time driving the points you believe they want to hear. They’ve heard it all before. You need to set yourself apart from the competition.

Decorations of Any Kind

Clipart, photos, and decorative fonts have no place in a resume. You may think it makes your resume more memorable, and it does. It will be so memorable that HR will still be laughing about it years later. These unnecessary embellishments are often perceived as overcompensation. Stick with a standard font, and present your resume in black and white. Quality means more that presentation when it comes to formal documents.

Things You Made Up

If your resume contains outright lies and you aren’t getting calls for interviews, it’s probably because your potential employer discovered that you made up. Would you hire someone if you knew they were dishonest right off the bat? Be careful with lies and exaggerations. You may think they make you look like a better candidate, but you lose any chance you had once your employer discovers the truth.

It’s time to review your resume and make some changes. There’s nothing wrong with having a short and simple resume if the emphasis is on your strengths and accomplishments that will make you a valuable employee.

Guest blogger Joan Herbert is assistant manager at Bank-Opening-Times.co.uk, a curious individual, avid reader and a passionate creative writer.