10 Reasons Why Your Resume is Not Getting Interviews

No one likes to send out resumes and not hear back. But there are reasons why your resume is not getting interviews. The world isn’t aligned against you. Sure, other people got their jobs from friends, family, or many other reasons.

None of that helps you when you’re sending out resumes. If you don’t have a job, and you’ve been sending out resumes and cannot get an interview, then it’s time to think about why that’s happening.

There are real reasons why you are not getting a job interview. And if you take the time to look at them all then you might find that you fit into one of the categories below.

Your Resume Isn’t in the Proper Format

If you’ve sent your resume in to the company (or to the online job board) in the wrong format, there’s a good chance that the company won’t even look at it. Oftentimes the company has an ATS system that won’t even read resumes if you submit them in the wrong format.

So, what isn’t the proper format? Well, for most people, the proper format for a resume is the standard one. Don’t be creative. Use a resume template and save the resume as a PDF or a Word document.

It helps to have two copies of your resume, one in word and one in PDF.

A resume that’s not in the proper format might mean one that’s in a Text. Or a resume that’s misaligned or poorly laid out.

Here’s a hint—don’t try and create a resume from scratch. The alignments are too difficult to manage on your own. If you make it on your own without a proper guideline template, then you’re going to end up with a mess.

There’s a reason why recruiters ask for resumes in word or pdf.

Your Resume Is Too Wordy

A really common problem recruiters deal with are resumes that are too wordy. There are lots of people out there that think that by listing every single detail of their job, then it gives them the best chance of getting the job.

But here’s the simple fact. If you write a novel instead of a resume, then no one is going to read it. Temp agencies are run by (for the most part) low end businessmen who are in the business of scalping profits off of their workers. They’re not well educated or refined. So don’t bother writing a long and detailed essay for them, they won’t read it.

If you’re contacted by a headhunter (not a temp agency, but a executive recruiter for a direct placement) then you might deal with a more refined person, but even then you’re going to want to keep it brief.

No one wants to read your life story. Frankly, they don’t care about you until they think that they can make money off you.

Also, unless you are the COO of a major Fortune 500 firm, then really, what could you drone on about for multiple pages?

Take it from someone who has read thousands upon thousands of resumes. It’s a red flag for most people if they come across a wordy resume. And, the truth is that most recruiters and all agency owners will simply toss that resume into the do not call pile.

Or Too Colorful

Colorful resumes, for anyone besides graphic designers is a huge no-no. If you’re resume is more of a cartoon than a resume, then you’re in trouble. Your resume will be seen as something of a joke.

No serious employer will hire you if you use colorful fonts, decorative edges, or anything else. Maybe your friends think it’s “cute”.

 Perhaps you hired someone on Fiver or some other online service to create a flashy resume for you to use. But what is the use of this flashy resume when it gets you flagged and sent to the trash bin.

Flashy resumes are cute to look at, but hiring managers and recruiters all think that the people who use these resumes are simply not professional.  So, keep it simple. Use a standard resume when you’re apply for jobs and keep the colorful graphics to your creative outlets in your personal life.

There Are Career Gaps

If you have long career gaps on your resume, or even if you have short ones, then it can be a major red flag.

There are tons of articles online that discuss how to handle career gaps. While there’s some good information in these articles, the simple fact is that a career gap is a giant red flag.

Even if you have a legitimate reason for not working for months (or years) recruiters and employers are hesitant to contact you. That’s in the best situation. In most situations, you simply won’t be contacted.

The way most recruiters view resumes is simple. If the person has not worked for any length of time, they are a risk. The only acceptable reason in most cases is maternity leave. And even in those cases, sadly, many recruiters simply ignore resumes with career gaps.

So, how do you deal with a career gap? Well, that’s something I have covered in depth since there are smart ways to handle it. But it requires a lot of creativity and attention to details.

If you simply leave a regular gap in your resume, then you are asking for trouble. The bottom line is that people who do not list a unbroken chronology of their work history with no gaps are almost always not contacted.

You Have Fake Jobs Listed

This ties into people who have a career gap on their resume. If you have one obvious fake jobs listed on your resume, then you won’t get contacted.

Now, the good thing is that most people can’t tell if you have listed a fake job unless you make it really obvious.

The more obvious the fake job, the more likely it is that they won’t contact you.

So, what makes a fake job? Well, something that’s not specific. Vague company names and even no company names. For instance, if you list yourself as being an Executive Assistant for a Private Company, then most recruiters will toss the resume.

There are some very rare examples when people have to be incredibly discreet (such as in the world of Personal Assistants ) but these resumes are very unique and the type of work history will be clear (these people tend to also have great educations that they don’t have to hide).

Also, if the jobs don’t make sense when combined with your other recent work history, then it makes sense that something is wrong. So, someone who has a basic high school degree, and worked at McDonalds and then went right into working as an executive at Sony Music or Goldman Sachs is obviously going to raise red flags.

You Have A Bad Rep In The Industry

Have you ever no-showed to a job interview? Have you ever taken a job only to quit or walk off without notice? Well, if you have ever cancelled an interview at the last minute, no-showed to an interview, or done anything else that could have reflected poorly on your recruiter then odds are you’re on a blacklist.

Now, there is no such thing as a real blacklist. What there is, are agency lists of people who should not be used. They are flagged for many reasons, most of which are no-shows to interviews, quitting without notice, and a host of other items.

And remember, the industry is not regulated. Temp agencies make money by paying temps as low as possible and then billing companies as much as they can. Many temp agencies keep long lists of candidates who are on shared blacklists.

While these lists are not official, they are created because recruiters move from company to company with speed. And recruiters remember people who burned them in the past.

If you’re someone who blew off an interview at some point in time, recruiters will remember this. And when they are at a new agency, and see your name in the system they will make a note of it. This creates a long chain where most people end up being flagged in all major systems.

There is so much movement from agency to agency that a bad apple is likely to be found out. And beyond that, you have to reckon with agencies sharing or selling databases.

One of the most common ways temp agencies make money is to sell their data. The fact is that many temp agencies sell names, resumes, contact info, and even notes on applicants. This is how one resume with negative notes can become a bad profile across dozens of agencies.

Of course, many agency recruiters don’t necessarily trust the remarks that come with database hauls. But the fact is, that if you at any point were a no show to a job interview or a meeting, and a recruiter was involved with setting up the call, the odds are strong that every major recruiting company will have that information in their system.

You’re Not Skilled or Qualified

This isn’t meant to embarrass anyone, but it is important to make it clear: many people are simply not qualified for the jobs they apply for.

Everyone is told that they should aim for the sky and reach for your goals. That’s perfectly fine, but it’s not practical advice for you to take in the job market.

If you’re someone who has never worked with Excel, for instance, and you’re work history includes at best, some warehouse work or fast-food work, and you are applying for financial analysis roles, then you are not qualified.

Companies will look at the work history that does not fit what you are applying for and will immediately toss your resume aside.

Perhaps you studied business in college, and feel that you are set for a role as a financial analyst? Well, that might be something you want, but unless you have extensive work experience in the way of internships or you have a relative who can get you a job in the company, your resume will be trashed.

The key lesson here is to not waste your time only applying to roles you are not remotely qualified for.

Staffing agencies and the recruiter who work there will never look at your resume.

The only people who get jobs that they are not qualified for are those people who are hired because of some quota system or else they have a relative who works at the company who has them hired.

No One Is Reading Your Resume

Your resume is not getting interviews, often enough, because no one is reading them. Most agencies are flooded with resumes and most are automatically entered into Applicant Tracking Systems.

Recruiters are only going to find resumes that they search for. If your resume doesn’t have the exact phrasing that they are looking for, then it won’t ever come up in a search.

And if you’re sending your resume into a company via Indeed or Greenhouse or some other job site, then understand that you are one of many (perhaps thousands!). The sheer number of resumes submitted to the countless jobs out there means that it’s likely that no one is reading your resume.

As a quick anecdote. Years ago while working in the non-profit sector, our team was involved in trying to land a contract with a lucrative organization in the healthcare space. Hundreds of millions of dollars a year in government aid. The hiring managers simply did not return calls or emails (and we knew from contacts that they did not work with other staffing agencies).

One of our research analysts created a repot detailing how they acquired their employees. This considered of telephone interviews with past employees (found by sourcing their resumes). The data was substantive, and the results were illuminating.

First, the agency did partner with another non-profit, where many of the applicants came from. The board of directors essentially were funneling money back and forth by hiring each others people.

Second, not a single person had gotten a job at this non-profit via Indeed or any other job board. Which was surprising since the agency regularly spent significant funds on advertisements (again, observed data over the course of an 18 month period). Not a single person had successfully landed a job via a job board.

We found that this non-profit had a habit of employees hiring relatives and friends. Almost every interview contained the following statement “my friend who worked there got me the job”.

So, remember, networking helps because odds are if you apply though a job board, no one is reviewing your resume.

The Boss Looked at your Social Media

Is your social media unprofessional? Well, if so, then that could very well be the reason your resume isn’t getting interviews.

There are no shortage of people who have decent resumes, but inappropriate social media accounts. And those people aren’t going to have much success if they apply for a serious job.

Most low-level jobs, or jobs in large corporations for entry level shift work, don’t really matter when this is concerned. Your hiring manager at McDonalds or some other megacorporation isn’t going to review your social media accounts.

However, if you’re applying for an executive role, or even a entry level role at a smaller company, then you do have to take this into account. Recruiters do look at your social media accounts, it’s a fact of life.

So, before applying to anymore jobs, be sure to take a look at your social media accounts and determine if they contain things that might shock or annoy an employer.

The Hiring Manager Is Ageist (Tips to Hide Your Age)

It shouldn’t happen, but it does. If you’re sending out your resume to employers and they are able to determine how old you are then you might be subject to ageism.

Thankfully, the modern workplace has setup safeguards against any racial bias. There are very few companies that don’t have full time diversity managers on board to help fill roles with applicants of color.

Unfortunately, nothing like this exists for older applicants. And these older applicants face incredibly discrimination in the workplace.

Many people who are middle aged and who loose their jobs due to outsourcing to overseas labor markets, or company collapses find themselves in the job market. They then find out, sadly, that companies will not hire middle aged people.

Staffing agencies are no different in this aspect. If they see that you are over a certain age, then they simply won’t return your calls.

The problem is how do you hide your age? Well, the main one is to disguise your graduation date. If you list the year you graduated on your resume, then you are obviously signaling how old you are.

So, what most people suggest you do is to not put a graduation date next to your college.

Also, it helps to not put the first few jobs you had. That creates both too long a resume, as well as a resume that can date you.

Companies are getting more tricky with finding out a person’s age, however. That is why many recruiting agencies will request that you send them your LinkedIn profile. Make no mistake, this is to get a clear photo of how you look.

Sadly, there is not much you can do if you are an older person. Recruiting agencies and staffing agencies are going to avoid older people. Recruiters don’t , in my experience, care. It’s the individuals who run these agencies who prefer to work with less experienced and younger people who will work for lower wages and not complain.