• Provides no value to recruiters
• Fails to showcase specialized chemistry expertise
• Often ignored by ATS parsing algorithms

• Replace objective with a concise professional summary
• Highlight key areas such as analytical techniques, industry sector, and years of experience
• Incorporate quantifiable achievements

Objective: Seeking a challenging position in a reputable company.

Professional Summary: Analytical chemist with 5+ years of experience developing HPLC methods for pharmaceutical QC, reducing assay time by 30% and ensuring GLP compliance.

• Clutters the resume with non‑essential information
• Dilutes focus on professional experience
• ATS may penalize low‑relevance keywords

• Only include coursework directly related to the target role (e.g., Advanced Spectroscopy, Method Validation)
• Move generic classes to a brief "Relevant Coursework" subsection under Education if you’re a recent graduate
• Delete unrelated classes like "World History"

Relevant Coursework: World History, Introduction to Philosophy, Organic Chemistry I

Relevant Coursework: Advanced HPLC, Mass Spectrometry, Method Validation, Good Laboratory Practice (GLP)

• Makes achievements vague and unmeasurable
• Reduces impact of research and project work
• ATS often looks for numbers to rank relevance

• Add metrics such as % improvement, time saved, cost reduction, or number of samples analyzed
• Use action verbs followed by results
• Keep numbers simple and consistent

Developed a new assay for impurity detection.

Developed a new impurity detection assay that increased detection sensitivity by 45% and reduced analysis time from 8 h to 5 h.

• ATS may not recognize shorthand (e.g., "MeOH" vs "Methanol")
• Hiring managers might misinterpret uncommon acronyms
• Reduces keyword match rate

• Write full chemical names on first reference, then optionally include abbreviation in parentheses
• Prefer universally accepted abbreviations (e.g., HPLC, NMR)
• Avoid lab‑specific shorthand

Optimized MeOH extraction protocol for plant metabolites.

Optimized methanol (MeOH) extraction protocol for plant metabolites, increasing yield by 22%.

• Makes it hard for recruiters to assess research impact
• ATS may skip unstructured publication lists
• Clutters the resume layout

• Create a dedicated "Research & Publications" section with consistent citation style
• List only peer‑reviewed articles or those most relevant to the target role
• Include DOI or journal impact factor if notable

Publications: Various papers on chromatography.

Research & Publications: 1. Smith, J., & Doe, A. (2022). High‑throughput HPLC method for impurity profiling. *Journal of Pharmaceutical Analysis*, 12(3), 145‑152. DOI:10.1016/j.jpha.2022.01.005