Good Resume vs Bad Resume: Real Examples Compared (2026)
Most resume advice tells you what a good resume looks like. If you are searching for bad resume examples, including bad resume examples PDF-style printable formats, this article gives you the complete comparison you need. This article shows you both, a bad resume and a good resume, for the same candidate, side by side across every section. Every mistake in the bad version has a specific reason it gets rejected, and the fix in the good version demonstrates exactly what to do instead.
There are also two different ways a bad resume gets rejected: by the ATS system before a human ever reads it, and by a recruiter during the 6–10 second initial scan. These are separate failure modes with different causes. You need to pass both. This guide covers both.
The Two Ways a Bad Resume Gets Rejected
Failure Mode 1, ATS Rejection
The applicant tracking system filters your resume before any human reviews it. Over 97% of large employers use ATS. These mistakes cause instant disqualification regardless of your qualifications:
- Tables, columns, or text boxes (ATS can’t parse them)
- Headers and footers (ATS ignores content in them)
- Graphics, images, or icons in the body
- Wrong file format (JPEG, Pages, or unformatted PDF)
- Missing keywords from the job description
- Incorrect section headings (e.g., “Where I’ve Worked” instead of “Work Experience”)
- Special characters or unusual fonts that don’t parse
Failure Mode 2, Human Rejection (6–10 Second Scan)
The resume passes ATS but fails the recruiter’s fast visual scan. These mistakes cause the resume to be set aside even if the candidate is qualified:
- No metrics or numbers, just task descriptions
- Buried job titles in walls of text
- Generic summary that could be anyone
- Wrong-length resume for experience level
- Typos or grammatical errors
- Irrelevant experience taking up prime space
- Objective statement instead of a strong summary
- Skills listed without context or evidence
Complete Bad Resume vs Good Resume, Same Candidate
The candidate below is a marketing manager with 5 years of experience. This is the only good resume example on the web that shows the complete bad version side-by-side with the fix. The bad resume version is realistic, it represents the most common real-world mistakes, not cartoonishly wrong choices. The good resume version takes the exact same work history and transforms it into something that passes ATS and earns a callback. Read both in full before looking at the section-by-section breakdown.
Section-by-Section Breakdown, What Makes Each One Bad or Good
1. Contact Information
✗ What’s Wrong
Date of Birth: March 15, 1990
- Hotmail address signals outdated tech habits, use Gmail
- Date of birth opens the door to age discrimination and is not required in the US, never include it
- Centred layout causes ATS parsing problems, use left-aligned header
- Phone format without area code looks incomplete
✓ What’s Right
New York, NY · sarah.johnson@gmail.com · (212) 555-0194 · linkedin.com/in/sarah-johnson-mktg
- Professional Gmail address
- Full phone number with area code
- City and state only, no street address needed
- LinkedIn URL (customised, not the default long URL)
- Left-aligned, ATS-friendly
2. Summary vs Objective
✗ What’s Wrong
- A resume summary focuses on what you offer. An objective focuses on what you want, hiring managers care about what you offer them
- “Hard worker” and “passionate” are claims with zero evidence
- Zero metrics, software names, or specific skills
- “Great team” language is filler that could apply to any job anywhere
- First-person “I” throughout, professional resumes omit the subject
✓ What’s Right
- Starts with job title and years of experience, immediate context
- Three specific metrics in three sentences
- Names specific tools (HubSpot, GA4), ATS keywords
- No first-person, reads as confident, not self-absorbed
- Employer-focused: what you’ve done, not what you want
3. Work Experience Bullets
✗ What’s Wrong
- Paragraph format instead of bullet points, hard to scan in 6 seconds
- First-person “I” throughout
- “Responsible for” is the weakest phrase in resume writing, describes a job description, not an achievement
- Zero numbers, no budget amount, no follower growth, no team results
- “Lots of other marketing-related tasks” is padding that signals nothing
- Every sentence could describe any marketing manager, no differentiation
✓ What’s Right
- Managed $400K annual marketing budget, delivered 112% of pipeline target in FY2024
- Grew LinkedIn and Instagram from 12K to 85K followers through organic content calendar
- Led product launch campaign, generated $1.2M in qualified pipeline in 90 days
- Bullet points, scannable in under 3 seconds
- No first-person, starts with strong action verbs
- Every bullet has a number: dollar amount, percentage, follower count
- Specific enough to be distinctive, no other candidate will have these exact numbers
4. Skills Section
✗ What’s Wrong
- “Social Media” and “Marketing” are too generic, every applicant lists these
- “Hard Worker,” “Teamwork,” and “Communication” are personality claims, not skills, they can’t be searched in ATS
- “Google” and “Adobe” are incomplete, which Google tools? Which Adobe products?
- “Microsoft Office” without specifying Excel, PowerPoint, etc. is a missed keyword opportunity
- No platform names that ATS can match to job descriptions (no HubSpot, no GA4, no Meta Ads)
✓ What’s Right
- Named platforms (HubSpot, GA4, Meta Ads), these are exact ATS keywords
- Specific functions (A/B testing, SEO/SEM) rather than categories
- Mix of technical skills and functional competencies
- No personality claims, those go in the summary with evidence, not in skills
5. Education Section
✗ What’s Wrong
State University, 2012 | GPA: 2.8
- Including a 2.8 GPA for a candidate with 5+ years of experience is a mistake, it adds nothing positive and draws attention to a mediocre academic record
- GPA should only be included if it’s 3.5+ and you graduated within the last 3 years
- Abbreviated degree title (“BA”) is less ATS-searchable than spelled-out “Bachelor of Arts”
✓ What’s Right
State University · Graduated 2012
- No GPA, it’s been 12 years and professional experience is the relevant signal now
- Clean format: degree, major, institution, year
- Education section is brief, as it should be for an experienced candidate. The experience section should be the focus.
6. Irrelevant Sections
✗ What’s Wrong
- A personal interests section for a marketing manager provides zero professional value
- It wastes resume space that should showcase results
- Mentioning pets is a personal detail that invites unconscious bias and adds nothing
- Rule of thumb: only include an interests/hobbies section if the interests are directly relevant to the role or demonstrate a skill (e.g., competitive chess on a strategy consulting resume)
✓ What’s Right
No interests section. Space used instead for a more detailed second role with quantified results.
- Every line of a resume should earn its place
- Sections that could be in the good resume instead: certifications, relevant courses, portfolio link, publications
- The only optional sections worth including for most candidates: volunteer work (with scope), certifications, languages, publications
The 10 Most Common Bad Resume Mistakes, With Fixes
Good Resume Checklist, Print or Save
Run through this checklist before submitting any application. If you cannot check every item, your resume is not ready.
Format & ATS
- ☐ Single-column layout (no tables, columns, or text boxes)
- ☐ PDF format unless Word requested
- ☐ Standard section headings (Experience, Education, Skills)
- ☐ No content in headers or footers
- ☐ No photos, graphics, or icons
- ☐ Font: 10–12pt, standard (Calibri, Arial, Garamond, Georgia)
- ☐ Correct length for experience level
Content & Keywords
- ☐ Summary is specific, includes title, years, metric, and tools
- ☐ Every bullet starts with an action verb, no “I” or “responsible for”
- ☐ At least 60% of bullets contain a number or metric
- ☐ Skills section names specific tools, not categories
- ☐ Job description keywords appear naturally in text
- ☐ No date of birth, photo, marital status, or age
- ☐ Professional email address (no hotmail, no nicknames)
- ☐ Zero typos, read aloud and proofread by a second person
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes a resume look unprofessional?
The most common signs of an unprofessional resume are: a personal email address with a nickname or year of birth (cooldude1990@hotmail.com), inconsistent date formats (some roles written “Jan 2022” and others “1/2022”), a photo, an objective statement that explains what the applicant wants rather than what they offer, walls of text instead of bullet points, and a skills section full of soft skills (“team player,” “hard worker”) instead of named tools and platforms. Any one of these signals carelessness to a recruiter who has already seen 50 resumes today.
Is a one-page or two-page resume better?
A one page resume is right for under 5 years of experience, a thin two page resume is worse than a tight one-pager is worse than a tight one-pager. 5–15 years of experience: one or two pages depending on how much genuinely relevant content you have. Over 15 years: two pages maximum unless you are in academia or a senior executive with a genuinely full second page of relevant material. The old rule that all resumes must be one page is outdated, the real rule is that every line must earn its place. A two-page resume with padding is worse than a one-page resume that is sharp.
What should never be on a resume, What Not to Put on a Resume
In the US: photos, date of birth, marital status, nationality, religion, or any other information that relates to protected characteristics. Also: high school education if you have a degree, GPA from more than 3 years ago (or below 3.5), “references available upon request” (implied and wastes space), reasons for leaving previous jobs, salary history, personal interests unless directly relevant to the role, and outdated skills (listing “Microsoft Word” as a skill in 2026 adds nothing).
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