
The Internet Is Lying to You About Resumes
Stop following bad resume advice. Here’s what truly helps you get noticed by recruiters today.

Akash Bhadange
Jun 04, 2025 • 4 min read
Spend five minutes browsing career advice forums or watching videos online, and you’ll be bombarded with a dozen conflicting opinions on how to write resumes! Some users swear by visually stunning Canva templates. Others argue that LaTeX is the gold standard for technical roles. A few insist you must always use a PDF, while others claim Word documents are the only way to get past an ATS.
It's a mess. And if you're an early-career candidate trying to figure things out, it can leave you completely confused and even anxious. There's so much information, but very little clarity.
As someone who's been involved in building hiring tools, reviewing thousands of resumes, and speaking directly with recruiters, I want to break down what's real and what's just internet noise.
Myth #1: “You have to use an ATS-friendly format”
Partly true. But most people don’t even understand what "ATS-friendly" means in practice.
It doesn’t mean your resume has to be ugly or look like it was built in 2006. It just needs to be structured in a way that parsing software can understand. That means:
Clear, standardized section headings like "Experience," "Education," and "Skills"
No tables, text boxes, or embedded graphics
A common file format (PDF or DOCX works fine for most companies)
That’s really it. And here's the thing: most modern applicant tracking systems are pretty advanced now. They don’t choke on simple layouts. Unless you're applying to a legacy system in a government office from the early 2000s, your resume will be parsed just fine if it’s logically laid out.
Myth #2: “Use a Canva resume to stand out”
Looks impressive. But may fail where it matters.
Canva makes beautiful designs, and it’s tempting to use their templates to stand out. But here’s the catch: many of these designs use background layers, custom icons, text boxes, and graphic elements that confuse resume parsing systems.
We’ve tested this. Some Canva resumes turn into gibberish when parsed. For example:
“EXPERIENCE Designer Peerlist JUL 2022Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet Skills figmafigmafigma”
Not helpful.
If you’re using Canva, choose a basic, text-heavy layout. Avoid any design elements that look like they belong on a poster. Better yet, use a clean Google Docs or Word resume and focus on clarity.
Myth #3: “Use LaTeX if you’re an engineer”
Only if you know what you're doing and why you're doing it.
LaTeX can produce sleek, professional-looking resumes that appeal to academic and technical audiences. They’re especially good when you're applying to grad school, research internships, or professorships.
But here's the flip side: many LaTeX templates are heavily customized with unique fonts and two-column formats. These can break when uploaded to an ATS. Worse, if someone prints your resume and scans it using OCR software, your formatting might not hold up.
Use LaTeX when:
You're applying in academia or research-heavy roles.
You’re sending your resume directly to a human via email or handoff.
You have the skills and time to tweak the formatting to ensure compatibility.
Avoid it when applying via online portals or when speed matters more than aesthetics. Or convert your LaTex resume into a .pdf file.
Myth #4: “Only use one page”
Not necessarily. Use as much space as needed, but be concise.
The "one-page rule" gets repeated a lot. And while it makes sense for new grads or people with less experience, it's not a hard rule.
If you have 3 to 5 years of experience, it’s completely fine to use two pages as long as every line adds value. Don’t stretch it just to fill space, but don’t cut valuable content just to hit an arbitrary limit.
What recruiters hate is fluff, not page count.
Myth #5: “Your resume should include keywords from the job description”
True, but don’t go overboard.
Yes, mirroring keywords from the job description helps ATS and recruiters find alignment between your skills and the role.
But don’t treat your resume like a game of buzzword bingo. Keyword stuffing is easy to spot and makes your writing sound unnatural.
Use keywords smartly:
Embed them in real achievements and outcomes
Mention tools and technologies you’ve actually used
Tailor your phrasing without faking it
Example:
“Built internal dashboards using Looker to monitor KPIs”
“Looker Looker Looker Looker Looker”
The Real Resume Advice That Works
Let’s cut through the noise. Here’s what recruiters actually want:
Clean layout and logical structure that is easy to scan.
Experience that matches the job requirements.
Accomplishments that show impact, ideally backed by numbers.
A resume tailored to the company and role.
No grammatical errors or awkward formatting.
Font choice doesn’t matter. Fancy icons don’t matter. What matters is: Can they quickly understand who you are and what you bring to the table?
Final Thought
Online advice can help, but it’s not a replacement for real hiring experience. Resume opinions are often shared by people who haven’t actually hired anyone.
If you’re serious about your job hunt, show your resume to someone who’s worked in hiring for your industry. Even better, talk to someone working in the role you want next.
Remember: A great resume won’t get you the job on its own. But a poorly structured one can surely stop you from even getting an interview.
And that’s the part people often forget.