Stop Letting Resume Mistakes Block Your Product Design Career
Identify and fix the top errors that keep hiring managers from seeing your design impact.
Common Mistakes That Kill Your Chances
Each mistake includes why it hurts, how to fix it, and before/after examples
- Hiring managers can’t gauge seniority
- ATS may not match keywords
- Replace generic titles with specific design roles
- Add level indicators (Junior, Mid‑Level, Senior)
Designer at XYZ Corp
Senior Product Designer – UX/UI at XYZ Corp
- Design impact is unclear
- ATS looks for numbers
- Add quantifiable results for each project
- Use percentages, revenue, user growth
Redesigned checkout flow, improving user experience.
Redesigned checkout flow, boosting conversion rate by 12% and reducing cart abandonment by 8%.
- ATS may truncate
- Hiring managers skim and miss key skills
- Curate top 8–10 relevant tools and methods
- Group skills by category
Skills: Sketch, Photoshop, Illustrator, InVision, Figma, Adobe XD, Axure, Balsamiq, Zeplin, Marvel, Principle, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, User Research, Wireframing, Prototyping, Usability Testing, Design Systems, Agile, Scrum, Kanban, Project Management.
Core Skills: Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, InVision, User Research, Prototyping, Design Systems, Agile (Scrum).
- Hiring managers can’t see your process
- ATS may miss action verbs
- Start bullets with strong verbs
- Structure as Situation‑Action‑Result
Worked on mobile app redesign.
Led mobile app redesign (S) to improve onboarding, (A) introduced a new user flow and interactive prototypes, (R) resulting in a 15% increase in user retention.
- ATS may reject if filename contains spaces or special chars
- Hiring managers may overlook
- Name file as FirstName_LastName_ProductDesigner.pdf
Resume_JaneDoe.pdf
JaneDoe_ProductDesigner.pdf
- Use a clear, role‑specific title
- Include quantifiable achievements
- Limit skills to 8–10 relevant tools
- Write experience bullets with action verbs and results
- Optimize for ATS keywords from the job posting
- Keep layout clean with consistent fonts and spacing
- Save as PDF with ATS‑friendly filename
- Standardize job titles
- Add metrics to achievements
- Condense skills list
- Reformat dates to MM/YYYY
- Generate ATS‑friendly filename
