Three of the most repeated pieces of resume advice are: stuff it with keywords, avoid any formatting the ATS can't read, and keep it to one page. All three have a grain of truth. All three pull your attention away from what actually decides whether your resume works.
I took these on across four LinkedIn posts in September and October. This post brings them together, because they share one fix: write for the person who reads your resume, and the system mostly takes care of itself.
Myth 1: Stuff it with keywords
"Just load your resume with keywords to beat the bots" is some of the most repeated, and most overrated, job search advice out there.
Keyword matching is real. When a recruiter searches an applicant tracking system, resumes that contain the words they searched for show up. But most systems aren't sophisticated enough to reward keyword density, and the ones that are will often treat unnatural repetition as noise. Meanwhile, a resume stuffed with disconnected buzzwords reads terribly to the human who opens it, and a human makes the real decision.
What to do instead: make sure the words that matter for the role genuinely appear because you have that experience, described clearly. If a job requires "contract negotiation" and you've done it, say it in those words. Don't invent language you can't back up in an interview.
Myth 2: Any formatting will get you auto-rejected
"Don't use tables, columns or graphics; the ATS can't read them." You've probably heard some version of this. It's outdated more often than it's true.
Older, rigid parsing systems did struggle with complex layouts. Most modern platforms handle standard formatting, including columns and basic tables, reasonably well. Where formatting genuinely causes problems:
- Text embedded in images.
- Unusual fonts that don't parse cleanly.
- Layouts so creative that critical information ends up in the wrong field.
What to do instead: aim for clarity, not minimalism for its own sake. A clean layout with clear headings and readable fonts works for the system and the person.
Myth 3: It has to be one page
"One page or two?" is one of the most common questions I get, and it's the wrong question to spend energy on.
Length matters far less than whether the first few lines under each role tell a recruiter what changed because you were there. A two-page resume full of specific, outcome-driven bullets will outperform a one-page resume of generic responsibilities. A tight one-pager with only the sharpest points will outperform a padded two-pager just as easily. The page count was never the variable that mattered.
What actually matters: the six-second scan
Once your resume clears the automated filters, a real person looks at it, usually for six to ten seconds on the first pass. They're not reading line by line. They're scanning for:
- A clear, recognizable job title.
- Dates that make sense, without obvious unexplained gaps.
- Quantified impact: numbers, outcomes and scale over vague responsibility statements.
- Relevance signals that map to what they're hiring for, positioned near the top where a quick pass will catch them.
In that scan, the reader decides whether to slow down and read the rest. Write for the six-second scan first. The details can hold up under a longer read once you've earned it.
The one test to run on every bullet
Here's the test I give candidates. Pick any bullet and ask: "Would this be true of literally anyone else who held this title?"
If yes, it isn't doing any work for you. Rewrite it around a specific outcome:
- Before: "Responsible for managing vendor relationships."
- After: "Renegotiated contracts with our three largest vendors, cutting annual costs by 14%."
- Before: "Handled customer support tickets."
- After: "Cut average ticket resolution time from three days to one by building a triage process for the team of six."
Do that for every bullet and the keyword question, the formatting question and the length question mostly answer themselves. The right words show up because you're describing real work. The layout stays clean because there's no filler to hide. And the length becomes whatever it takes to say what you did.
If you'd like a second set of eyes on your resume, reach out here.