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This might be hard to hear, but your resume could be the very thing keeping you from getting hired.

After 20 years as a career coach, I've seen this scenario play out thousands of times. Talented, qualified professionals send out resume after resume and hear nothing but crickets. They assume it's the market, bad luck, or that they're just not good enough. But the truth is often much simpler and more fixable.

Your resume is making you “unhireable” to recruiters. Not because you're not qualified, but because you don't understand how recruiters actually evaluate candidates.

Let me explain.

Here's what most job seekers don't realize: a recruiter's job isn't to find the best candidate. It's to find an exact match for the hiring manager. That's how they're evaluated. That's how they keep their jobs.

When a recruiter looks at your resume, they're doing what we call a "skim test," a lightning-fast, 6-13 second scan in a Z-pattern across your resume. They're not reading your carefully crafted bullet points. They're looking for specific keywords, titles, and red flags that tell them whether you're an exact match or not.

With the sheer volume of applications they're dealing with right now, they have to weed people out fast. And if they see something that makes you "unhireable" in those few seconds, you're getting tossed. It's not personal. It's just how the system works.

So what are these resume red flags that get you eliminated? Let me break down the top three.

Right now, there are tons of people on the market who were laid off from companies where they worked for years. These candidates look stable and reliable on paper. Hiring managers love that.

If your resume shows a pattern of job hopping or has noticeable gaps in employment, recruiters will pass you over in favor of these "safer" candidates. If they brought someone with a spotty work history to the hiring manager, they'd get pushback: "What are you doing? Go find me someone who's been stable and just got laid off."

I know this isn't fair. I know there are legitimate reasons for gaps and job changes. But remember…recruiters are looking for exact matches, not diamonds in the rough.

This one frustrates job seekers the most. You look at a job description and think, "I have most of these skills. I could learn the rest. If they just met me, they'd see I can do this job!"

And you're probably right. You probably could do the job.

But here's the problem: if your resume isn't at least an 85-100% match for what they're asking for, the recruiter won't consider you. Period.

Why? Because their job is to bring an exact match to the hiring manager. When they present someone who's only a partial fit, the hiring manager will question whether they're doing their job properly. "Why are you wasting my time with someone who doesn't have the experience we need?"

It doesn't matter that you're a quick learner. On paper, you're not an exact match, which makes you “unhireable” to that recruiter.

This one really gets people fired up. "But I'm more than qualified! Shouldn't that be a good thing?"

In an ideal world, yes. But in reality, when you're overqualified, hiring managers worry that you'll jump ship the moment a better opportunity comes along. And they're not wrong to worry.

Think about it from their perspective: it costs significant time and money to train someone. If they hire someone overqualified who's clearly settling, they're setting themselves up for another vacant position in six months when you find something at your level.

So when a recruiter brings them an overqualified candidate, they're going to push back: "Why did you give me this person? They're overqualified."

At this point, you might be thinking, "Great, J.T. So my resume is useless. What's the point?"

Here's the good news: people are getting hired every single day. People with employment gaps. People changing industries. People who are overqualified. But they're not getting hired by submitting resumes online.

They're getting hired by learning how to use their voice and "backchannel" their way to hiring managers. We call this your PRO VOICE—your unique value proposition that you communicate directly to decision-makers, bypassing the resume black hole entirely.

You know that feeling of "if I could just talk to them, they'd see I'm the right fit"? You're absolutely right. But you'll never get that chance if you keep playing the online application game with a resume that makes you “unhireable” to recruiters.

If you're tired of sending resumes into the void, it's time to try something different. At Work It DAILY, we've helped thousands of members get new, better-paying jobs by teaching them how to bypass the traditional application process and get directly in front of hiring managers.

Right now, you can join Work It DAILY and get instant access to our 7-Day Jumpstart Challenge, absolutely free with our 7-day trial. This challenge will help you rewrite all your job search materials and completely jumpstart your approach to finding work.

You don't need another generic resume template. You need a strategy that actually works in today's market.

Join Work It DAILY today and start your 7-day free trial. It's time to stop being “unhireable” and start getting interviews.

Your dream job is out there. Let's help you land it.

Go get ‘em!

J.T. O’Donnell

If you're a professional who's tired of feeling invisible or undervalued, J.T. O’Donnell’s new book PRO VOICE: Turn What You Know Into What You Earn is for you!

It’s time to stop relying on resumes and start building real visibility, credibility, and income.

Inside, J.T. shares her G.L.O.W. Method™ for showcasing your expertise online, building a trusted personal brand, and monetizing your knowledge through content, coaching, speaking, and more.

This isn’t about going viral—it’s about getting visible to the people who matter most. If you're ready to future-proof your career and finally earn what you’re worth, this book is your roadmap.