Some resume mistakes cost you in the six-second human skim. Others are worse: they get you filtered before a human ever looks. These silent killers happen inside the ATS, so you never get feedback — just silence. Here are the most common ones.
1. Layout the parser can't read
Tables, multiple columns, text boxes, and sidebars scramble the reading order. Your “Senior Analyst, 2021–2024” can get split apart or attached to the wrong employer. Use a single-column, ATS-friendly layout.
2. Contact info in the header/footer
Many systems ignore the header and footer region entirely. If your email and phone live up there, you can become an unreachable “great candidate.” Put contact details in the body.
3. An image instead of text
If your resume is a scanned page or a flattened design export, the ATS reads nothing at all. Test it: try to select and copy the text. Can't? It's an image. (See file formats.)
4. Missing the job's keywords
The ATS ranks by match. If the posting's core skills and terms aren't on your resume, you score low and rank below less-qualified applicants who included them. Here's how to find and add them.
5. Graphics standing in for substance
Skill bars, rating dots, and icons convey nothing to software. “Python ●●●●○” is invisible; “Built Python ETL pipelines processing 2M rows/day” is readable and persuasive.
6. Non-standard section names & fonts
Creative headings (“My Journey”) and decorative fonts can prevent proper categorization or get characters dropped. Stick to standard headings and clean fonts.
How to catch them before you apply
You can't see what the ATS sees — unless you test it. Run your resume through NEXENTRIX and it flags the parsing and content problems above, scores your match against the target job, and can rewrite it into a clean version that actually reaches a human.