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Resume red flags Malaysian hiring managers actually notice — from someone on the other sidE

by Puteri Norain·May 21, 2026

Been on hiring panels for 2 years. These are the patterns that send a CV to the bottom of the pile.

Short tenures everywhere. A pattern of 6—8 month stints across 3—4 companies raises questions. One short stint is explainable. All of them being short is a signal.

Vague impact statements. "Assisted with marketing campaigns" vs "Managed 3 monthly campaigns averaging RM50,000 budget with 22% conversion rate." Numbers create credibility.

Templates everyone uses. When your format is identical to 30% of other CVs, you've lost differentiation before I read a word.

Missing or inconsistent dates. The reason people leave gaps in dates is usually obvious. Just be clear and consistent.

#resumE#red-flags#hiring#CV#tips
345 upvotes6 comments

Comments (6)

Ailin Ng14

I track each application in Notion: company, role, date, status, follow-up date. Running 15+ applications simultaneously without a system is chaos.

Maryam Sidek11

Weekly review of your job search: what worked, what didn't, what to adjust next week. Treat it like a project with a retrospective.

Faris Nasrullah20

Set a daily application target, not a result target. I did 3 quality applications per day and got to offer within 6 weeks. Consistency over volume.