Ask HN: What do you consider resume red flags? - throwaway919222
======
bwang29
1\. Some links on the resume (github, portfolio, linkedIn) return 404 or
access denied. This is suprisingly common.

2\. Little facts / actual performance data, and over use of words such as
"passionate", "strong", "self-motivated", "success", "thrive", etc when
describing themselves in the resume.

3\. Changing jobs very frequently and no consistent theme in jobs, say 5 jobs
in 5 years, one in A.I., one in e-commerce, one in gaming, without specific
pursuit of interest.

4\. Have a big, long "technology used" for a project. For example, "technology
used" in a project includes "Python, Java, Javascript, HTML, CSS, jQuery, SQL,
C#, Django, Messaging, C, Bash.."

5\. Too specific on trivial details in a large project, such as "work on JSON
network request and return error codes to frontend".

6\. When sending your document, try sending a PDF but not a .docx

~~~
flukus
> 3\. Have a big, long "technology used" for a project. For example,
> "technology used" in a project includes "Python, Java, Javascript, HTML,
> CSS, jQuery, SQL, C#, Django, Messaging, C, Bash.."

How exactly is this a red flag? Javascript, HTML, CSS, jQuery, SQL, C#,
Messaging would be a typical project for me and there are likely to be
integrations with other languages and I usually have some bash scripts for
various parts. I wouldn't typically use java and c# in the same project but it
wouldn't be the first time either.

~~~
bigiain
Without supporting evidence, it looks way too much like claiming credit for
and expertise in everything any of your friends or coworkers has ever done.
The chance of one person doing production grade work on all of those things is
quite small. Tell me which of those you're expert in, and which of those
you're familiar with because it was used around your specialty and you had
opportunity dip your fingers in. Even your shorter list - while being more
believable - would have me asking questions about your strengths at each layer
of "full stack" you're claiming. Every great fullstack dev I've met has been
open about specialising in some part while being some degree of competent or
capable in other parts.

------
wedmondson
I do lots of hiring. Here are some things I watch out for.

\- Multiple, short stints at different companies. Sometimes things happen but
if you have a track record of jumping from one place to another I am pretty
confident you won't stay around very long if I hire you.

\- Multiple pages. A long resume is not impressive. Typically it is just
annoying because it makes it harder to find key information. It shows a lack
of ability to communicate in a concise manner. I have worked for several
companies, completed three degrees, have worked in multiple functions, lead a
wide variety of teams, and am still able to keep my resume to a single page.
If you need more than one page, fine, but if you need several you are doing
something wrong. If there are multiple candidates for an opening your resume
is going to the bottom of the pile.

\- Keyword stuffing. This typically means the candidate is writing their
resume for a search engine. They aren't really looking for the right
job...just "a" job. It also shows a lack of ability to communicate
effectively.

\- "Creative Resumes". Don't be cute. Don't use alternate layouts, photos,
background colors, interesting fonts, or graphics. It doesn't get you noticed.
At least not in the way you want to get noticed. Stand out by being concise
and organized. Show you that you can identify the most important aspects of
your career and communicate them effectively.

\- Buzz words. Be a human and communicate like a human.

\- Lack of precision. Don't just say "Improved application speed" say
"Improved application throughput by 50%". When you lack precision my
conclusion is either a) You are hiding something or b) You don't know how to
communicate effectively.

\- Objective statements. These aren't a red flag. They are just a waste of
space. Nobody looks at them. They clutter the resume and make it longer than
it needs to be.

~~~
viraptor
That's good information! One thing I don't really agree with is:

> Keyword stuffing. This typically means the candidate is writing their resume
> for a search engine.

If you're applying to a larger company, your CV is likely to be imported into
their internal system, often semi-automatically. Sometimes the keywords are
not for the public search engine, but for the initial HR's sorting.

~~~
scarface74
If you are dependent on submitting your resume to an applicant tracking system
and hoping it will stand out to someone in HR, you're doing it wrong (tm).

I haven't blindly submitted a resume in the 20 years I've been working. I've
always used recruiters or an inside contact.

~~~
viraptor
In some situations you can. In others you move 11 timezones, have no local
network, and need to find a job. It's not the best way, but it's not wrong.

~~~
scarface74
Even in that situation, I would reach out to a local independent recruiter I.
The area where I was looking for a job.

------
spyckie2
Disclaimer: I work at a recruiting company.

Resumes should be good enough to get you in the door, no more. The typical
recruiter/hr scans a resume for 5 seconds. Two things stick out in a bad way -
typos and jumpiness. Anything else is usually forgiven, or subjective based on
the person reading it. This is coming from someone who sees anywhere from
10-50 resumes a day.

~~~
fjeuplos
Agreed, I often tell more junior developers the only point to the CV is to get
you the interview.

------
lgregg
Does HN have any suggestions for people switching careers into software
engineering/development and landing junior/entry-level roles? Such as, what
parts to focus on outside of transferable soft skills?

Using myself as an example for people with a similar situation:

I worked as a freelancer in the past as an "Integrated Producer" which is
marketing speak for a Product/Project Manager & "Growth Hacker" hybrid. I've
touched everything from strategy and video production to creating shell
scripts to configure new computers. Most of my experience will be the projects
I've been building following tutorials or peer-programming with my mentor
through a year-long boot camp intensive that covers front and backend, but
also data structures, databases, algorithms, and etc.

So, most of my descriptions will be "created" or "integrated" with a
technology. Like right now, I'm beginning to build a closed social network
project as a capstone. I'm not going to be able to say "improved performance
by X" for example.

I'm also not sure how much to share of my past. I can say things such as:
"I've increased revenue by X over Y via email automation for Z." There are of
course soft skills like writing documentation or managing X amount of cases
(started as a law clerk/paralegal) under 5 managers. I also know that I
shouldn't say back in the late 90s and early 00s that I started building
websites for clans and guilds of gaming communities as a kid. (The bug has
been there awhile.)

------
bbrunner
In general, anything that is a red flag is probably something I would just
clarify in a 20 minute phone screen. Most of the time, what looks like a red
flag on a resume has a good explanation. That being said, the two that come to
mind that I've seen the most of are:

\- Not taking direct ownership of achievements (e.g. I was part of a team that
did x). I don't care what your team did, I care what you did even if it's less
impressive.

\- Recent Coding Bootcamps. Not necessarily a no go, but I've had very mixed
results with this one, some good, some bad. This will probably get me to look
at what you did prior to software development and evaluate if you are a
capable person in general.

~~~
muzani
Would you say those who do recent coding bootcamps are worse than those
recently graduated from college?

~~~
bigiain
Graduating from college (even if it's not a CS degree) at least still
demonstrates the ability to complete something complex and long-duration.

Bootcamp grads (for me) are more likely to get a look in for project based
roles where each project is measured in single digit numbers of weeks. For
long projects or product roles, I'll somewhat favour the demonstrated ability
of college graduates at sticking with and completing big things.

Not a "red flag" for me, but a reasonably strong signal.

------
numlocked
I don't have examples that come to mind of "red flags" on resumes that are
otherwise reasonable.

I approach resume screening as a way of qualifying a candidate, not
disqualifying them. I'm looking for positive signal, not negative. Do they
have experience in the domain or technology I care about? Have they worked in
teams and environments that would indicate they could succeed here? Are there
are any notable successes, or interesting hobbies or side projects that make
them stand out? If they clear the bar, I move to a phone screen.

It's not until much later in the hiring process that we start to look for "red
flags" that might indicate something is amiss.

Depending on the volume of qualified candidates and number and urgency of
roles available, I can dial different stages of the funnel up and down to
optimize for efficiency vs. hiring speed (though the bar to get hired remains
the same regardless).

------
matt_the_bass
\- lots of short stints employment. It costs a lot to find, hire and on board
someone. Ideally I’d like them to stick around for a while.

\- lists of buzzwords without clear descriptions of what they actually did. I
don’t care about “fashionable” terms. I wanted heard about concrete things
they’ve done.

\- poor formatting. If they don’t care enough to make their resume look clean
and neat, why would I expect them to care enough to be thorough in other jobs.
I don’t care too much about the aesthetic style of the resume as long as it is
clear and consistent.

~~~
whoisjuan
What's your definition of "short stint"? Less than 1 year?

~~~
nickthemagicman
I was going to ask that as well! What's the HN community's view of a
reasonable amount of time at an employer? Given that startups are way crazier,
require way longer hours, and are less stable financially and politically than
normally established companies.

Asking because I've worked for several startups and tech management has
changed several times in a year for both of them, they loose and gain huge
streams of revenue rapidly, have worked burnout hours at times at all of them.

All factors that have made me seriously question my employment there at times
but the knowledge I'm gaining makes it to good to give up for now.

~~~
pm
This is highly contextual. I've got a series of 3 month stints on my CV as I'm
a contractor. I usually come in to fix things, but by the time they call me in
most of the money has been spent on shitty agencies.

~~~
bowlich
If you're a contractor wouldn't your resume show continuous employment for one
company (yourself) with each 3-month stint listed as a client?

------
fisherjeff
I never look too hard for red flags in a resume - the candidate has already
spent hours carefully removing them. Interviews are much more interesting in
that regard.

------
esalman
I used to hire at a startup. Following are the things I usually looked at.
These are not sorted by severity, some are red flags but others are just
irrelevant.

* not following instruction in the job advert

* CC resume to many recipients

* weird sender name in email

* compressed resume

* begging for job in the cover letter

* photo

* "career objective"

* personal information

* broken links

* clear lack of personalization in the resume format

* irrelevant background/experience

* inactive github profile (only uploaded projects etc.)

* MS Office skills

* acknowledgement, signature

~~~
nickthemagicman
MS Office skills lol.

~~~
frou_dh
A lot of software developers, myself included, do lack MS-Office skills beyond
beginner-level because we are totally disinterested in it.

So if you are genuinely knowledgable about it then it could be worth a quick
mention.

~~~
scarface74
At a certain level, knowing how to get ideas approved by creating a PowerPoint
slide becomes important. So does being able to create a properly formatted
statement of work or proposal. They both help to convince your current company
the benefits of letting you work on the new and shiny technology that will
boost your resume and they help you to get freelance gigs.

------
BurritoAlPastor
I see a lot of resumes from people who talk a lot about the techs they've
used, but talk not at all about what they used them for. I no longer give
these people phone screens.

Also, be kind about formatting because HR software is rarely kind to it, but
some formatting errors can't be attributed there. The text on the third of
someone's four bullet points has extra leading space? They're not going to be
able to find why the YAML they wrote doesn't compile.

~~~
viuadi
Some of us do this because we signed a nondisclosure agreement, not because we
don't care about the product. As a developer, I would love to talk about the
context of my work. It's just that I can't, because my company told me to keep
it a secret.

I would consider it more of a red flag if the candidate volunteered too _much_
information about projects on their resume. Let's say you write that you
increased revenue by 1%. At some companies you might be able to talk about
that. But at many companies, those metrics are extremely sensitive, and
putting them on your resume means you're a disloyal employee.

~~~
bigiain
So explain that. An occasional believable "details under NDA" actually looks
good (it send me a message you aren't about to tell your _next_ recruiter or
employer all _my_ internal secrets).

------
muzani
* Lots of typos. One is fine. Too many suggests someone who is poor at English communication. It doesn't matter how good someone is, if they build the wrong thing.

* Generic boring template-ish resume. Usually these guys don't care much for craftsmanship.

* Too much specialization. 80% specialization is fine, just not 100%.

* For startups, a history of only working at big companies. Especially at the management level, where they tend to overspend and frustrate programmers.

* For larger teams, someone who has a history of _only_ working solo. Some of these guys refuse to communicate, attend daily stand ups, or do daily commits.

* Putting a salary history in your resume.

~~~
arbie
> * Generic boring template-ish resume. Usually these guys don't care much for
> craftsmanship.

I thought standardized resumes made it easier for HR systems to parse.

~~~
muzani
A bit hard to explain without examples, but you can have the usual format just
fine. Some minor things like color, jokes, icons, or a slightly different
template.

But there are just some really lazy, generic types of resumes which make this
person seem really cookie cutter. Like they just downloaded the first resume
option on Google or MS Word and took out some words, replaced with their own
text.

------
drblast
Any career longer than about five years that has a focus on a single
technology or language with no attempt to branch out or learn new things.
Especially for those without a comp sci degree.

For example, if your resume says you're a "SharePoint developer" or "Java
expert" it's automatically suspect. I've worked with too many people who
_only_ know a single thing and are trying to ride that train as far as they
can.

Those people have a great first three months if the job is for their exact
skill set. But anyone more well-rounded will run circles around them after
that.

~~~
frou_dh
A related problem is someone never having designed and implemented a
substantial project where they decided what to use. Rather, only having added
onto or maintained existing projects.

That gets people into the mindset of being a "FOO Developer" rather than a
developer, because the presence of FOO seems like a fact of life.

------
wenc
As someone who has just gone through over 100 resumes for a developer
position, these are some of my observations.These aren't exactly red-flags per
se, merely markers that would give one pause.

\- Heavy Java stack experience, with no significant experience in other
programming languages. One of the signs of a production programmer with no
passion for the craft of programming.

\- Huge listing of school projects involving many different technologies. This
is a sign of lack of experience, and resume padding. When probed deeper, not
many truly understood the tools they were using for their projects.

~~~
majewsky
> One of the signs of a production programmer with no passion for the craft of
> programming.

More like "one of the signs of a programmer who has other things to do after
work". It may just be indicative of that person spending time with his kids,
or working in an honorary office that's not IT-related.

~~~
wenc
Yes, one of many possible interpretations. That doesn’t detract from the main
point however. The level of developer aptitude we require generally exceeds
what this type of developer (production programmer) is able to bring to the
table.

------
funkaster
Lots of comments here about buzzwords. I get it, without context they are
meaningless. I think people tend to do that to try to pass the "recruiter
filter". Usually recruiters filter by either searching on linkedin by
keywords/companies or when they receive resumes by trying to do pattern
matching with their opening roles. (Source: I'm a hiring manager in SF and
I've been hiring on/off for the past 5 years. I get the pile of CVs after the
recruiter screen phone, which is a filter after the visual filter)

------
Orthodoxy
> "many short stints of employment"

I change jobs all the time because I work on what is interesting or highly
paying for as long as it entertains me or makes me a killing.

Startups go bankrupt all the time, and big companies will fire tens of
thousands of people at the drop of a hat. Pensions will be canceled, jobs
restructured, and bonuses occasionally distributed in lieu of raises.

The company has no loyalty to you, they only want you to make them money -- so
why should your goals be any different? It's hilarious of them to ask for that
when for 50 years the business schools have been teaching them that people are
cogs. Milk them and move on when it becomes boring or someone else has a
bigger carrot, since job security no longer exists outside of the government.

If the company had been proven, over decades, not to fire people simply
because the profit margin wasn't high enough, I would have more incentive for
loyalty. But even then, any new CEO can change everything. Employment is now
an adversarial game.

~~~
cimmanom
It's your prerogative to move on. It's my prerogative not to end a 3-month
search by hiring someone whom it'll take 4 months to get up to speed on our
codebase when they'll be gone in 9 months and I'll have to do this all over
again.

------
magoon
The most recent entry being your own one-man shop that you’re president and
CEO of.

Github accounts with recent “my first project” forks.

Gaps in employment.

Buzzwords.

Expert in too many things.

~~~
ashish10
Why would you treat gaps in employment as red-flag ? Do you expect everyone
whom you are interviewing to be like you ?

------
germainelol
Interesting replies on changing jobs frequently. Personally, I have only been
an engineer for around 3 years, of which I have had fairly valid reasons for
leaving each time.

\- 8 months in a startup that burned out and failed

\- 18 months in a successful startup where the tech side became very stale

\- 12 months in an agency where I was required to step up to a management
position rather than engineering

\- current role @ a company I plan to stay at for at least 2-3 years

Would you suggest that I explain why I left all of these roles on my resume
then?

------
vzaliva
I usually look for some obscure buzzword which I know something about and ask
the candidate about it. For example, if he has Foo on his resume I will ask a
concrete technical question related to Foo. Oftentimes it turns out the only
experience with it he or she has was in a college, years ago. For me, that is
an indication that candidate tends to exaggerate his knowledge and whatever
else he lists on his resume has to be taken with a grain of salt.

~~~
frou_dh
I tried that with someone who had written down Lisp and all they could muster
was "It has lots of parenthesis lolz".

------
ganashaw
I've written about a few things on my blog
([http://blog.debugmyresume.com/2018/04/11/quality_over_quanti...](http://blog.debugmyresume.com/2018/04/11/quality_over_quantity.html)),
but any time someone lists more than 3-4 programming languages, I'm
immediately skeptical.

~~~
candiodari
Why ? I've worked on compilers and theoretical programming languages and as
such, I have notions of a dozen programming languages. I don't claim to be
good/expert on more than 3 though.

But if someone does this on occassion as a hobby, how is it weird to know, or
have some projects in 10 or even 20 programming languages ?

Also many projects are programming languages in themselves (Greenspun's 10th
law). Tensorflow, most scheduling packages I've seen, prolog, several things
I've written ... Once a project grows beyond a certain large size, it tends to
become a programming language in itself.

~~~
ganashaw
Perhaps I was too general. A more accurate statement would be if more than 3-4
languages are listed _without any distinction between languages you 're good
at and languages you've just used_, then I become skeptical. And I said
skeptical, not that I reject the resume outright. I just find that more often
than not those candidates don't actually know more than one or two of those
languages very well. Or worse, they don't know _any_ of those language very
well. (Not that this is a bad thing! We all have to start somewhere; but
listing a lot of languages in such a situation seems dishonest from my point
of view).

------
janbernhart
A common red flag for me is: saying you're an 'expert', '10/10', etc in like 5
different technologies. For juniors it's common to overestimate their
capabilities, which is okay, but engineers with some years' experience that
already claim to have mastered it all: i'll pass on that.

------
vzaliva
If somebody worked for 10+ years on his or her last job is certainly a red
flag for me. People tend to get set in their ways and have difficulty to
adapting to new work environment and processes. "At IBM always did it this
way, for last 30 years"...

------
rlopezcc
I normally use an outlook email because I can have username@outlook instead of
user.name2392.stuff@gmail, also outlook advertisement is less intrusive.

I'm under the impression that it turns recruiters away, can this be right?

[Edit]: Yes/No is enough, no need to downvote.

~~~
sahil-kang
If you’re mainly interested in having a clean username, why not purchase your
own domain? If you pay for a small vps, most registrars will host an email
server at no extra cost.

~~~
rlopezcc
Yeah, do I have a domain name and used my own domain with gmail. But it sounds
volatile to me, if (for some reason) I lose my domain I'd miss a good part of
my communications. Thanks for your advice, I'll see what I can do.

------
gorbachev
The resume that lists every version of every library, database, IDE,
programming language, development tool, browser and Microsoft Office product
the candidate has ever used in any job for however briefly.

I'm not seeing these often these days, fortunately.

------
dano
\- mispellings and typoes

\- long term consultant wanting full time job

\- hotmail / outlook address

\- lack of learning new things across their career

\- non-business like fonts and general lack of typography

\- buzz word list

~~~
BrandoElFollito
What is the problem with the consultant? And with an outlook.com address?

------
tylerwhipple
Anything containing Ninja or Wizard

~~~
bostik
Or anything with the word Cyber.

(Unless that was in their official job title. Anywhere else it's a big red
flag.)

~~~
souprock
Heh, that actually is in my official job title. I'm a "Principal Cyber
Engineer". That came about as a way to offer better pay and benefits without
affecting a parent company; we all got "Software" changed to "Cyber" with the
pay/benefits upgrade.

------
krupan
Lies

~~~
cema
Lies are not just a red flag but a stop sign, but how do you recognize them?

------
walrus01
If the person has a personal domain such as firstname@lastname.net: no tls1.2
smtp transport negotiation in email headers. No evidence of proper spf and
dkim setup.

~~~
sdfhbdf
Wow so you just expect everyone to be an email expert?

~~~
walrus01
If they're going to run their own email server, yes, otherwise they have the
easy choice of pointing the mx record for their domain at office365, Google,
fastmail or another third party service that will handle all the complicated
smtp administration for them.

Either doing their DIY properly or outsourcing it for $8/mo to someone who can
do it properly says they actually care about mail delivery working, and their
domain not ending up in peoples' spam traps (ex: try sending mail to someone
from a domain with no spf record).

------
coenhyde
Experience in Microsoft products. Joking not joking

~~~
tehlike
Is c# a microsoft product? You are missing plenty of people if that's the
case.

~~~
jitl
Do not underestimate the importance of Unix familiarity. I encounter engineers
every day that don’t understand command-line flags or how to use the shell,
and a big reason for this is people coming from a IDE/Windows/MSFT world that
does not teach these skills. There’s a considerable gap of training between
“C# developer who has only used windows” and “developer who has used C# and
has used a command line”.

~~~
tehlike
Sure, that's fine. But this wasn't a "lack of unix familiarity". This was
"microsoft familiarity" :)

