Not getting interviews? 7 things wrong with most CVs

We read CV review threads and community guides on Reddit from 2021 to 2026, plus recent recruiter surveys. The same few problems came up far more than anything else. Most people can’t spot them in their own CV, because you know what your duties meant and the reader doesn’t.

A busy posting can get a lot of applicants: Greenhouse data reported by Business Insider put the average at about 242 applications per job in 2025. A recruiter skims, so small problems cost more than they should.

1. Your bullet points list duties, not results

This is the problem reviewers raise most, by a wide margin. A line like “Responsible for the booking system” says what the job was. It doesn’t say what got better because you were there, so it reads the same as everyone else in that role.

Fix it: for each line, ask what changed because of you, and roughly by how much. Start with what you did, then the result.

2. No numbers, or numbers nobody believes

A rough figure makes a line real: how many customers, people, orders or hours. But reviewers also warn against the opposite. A percentage with nothing to compare it to (“improved efficiency by 40%”) makes readers suspicious.

Fix it: add a number where you honestly can, and say what it was before. You don’t need a number in every line.

3. A designed, two-column template

Icons, skill bars, photos and side columns look good, but reviewers consistently advise one plain column. It’s faster to skim, and some screening software reads two columns in the wrong order.

Fix it: one column, clear headings (Experience, Education, Skills), and your latest job first.

4. A skills list nothing else backs up

Long lists of tools and soft skills are easy to write and easy to ignore. One reviewer put it bluntly: “VSCODE IS NOT A SKILL.” Everyday tools like email or Word don’t need listing at all.

Fix it: keep the skills that matter for the jobs you want, and show where you used each one in your experience.

5. Overused words, and lines that sound AI-written

“Hard-working team player” is on almost every CV, so it tells an employer nothing. Recruiters now also say they notice CVs rewritten by AI: words like “spearheaded” and “leveraged”, and a polished sameness. A graduate on Reddit who rewrote their CV with ChatGPT was told it “reads like many others”.

Fix it: swap each claim for something you did. Write it the way you’d say it out loud. See the full list of words to swap.

6. One CV for every job

Sending the same CV everywhere feels efficient, but it matches no single advert well. Reviewers repeatedly say to tailor it: use the advert’s own words for things you really have done.

Fix it: keep one master CV, and save a short version for each type of job.

7. Sometimes it isn’t the CV

Applying for jobs where you meet only some of the requirements, or where you’d need a work permit, leads to rejections no rewrite will fix. And the fear that software throws most CVs away is mostly a myth: in a 2025 survey of 25 US recruiters, 92% said their system doesn’t reject CVs on its own. People read them, quickly.

Fix it: if a job asks for a driving licence, a degree or the right to work, and you have it, say so clearly near the top.