Below is part 1 of a series on the biggest 10 mistakes in management consulting resumes. Some overlap with my post on the top 10 management consulting resume tips, but most are unique to this article.

1. Inconsistent spaces and alignment in the resume

You don’t want recruiters to say your resume is too full of text. Reviewers will lose attention – which is not good when yours is 1 of 250 in their pile.

One effective remedy is effective line spacing. Shrink and expand lines as needed (by manipulating font size).

A few places where spacing is necessary:

-Between the section heading (eg, “Professional experience”) and the 1st block (eg, “GE summer internship”)

-Between each clunk within the section

-At the end of a description and the start of a new section

-At the margins – as I’ve said before, nothing less than 0.5″ (vertical and horizontal)

Ignore this advice and your resume will be an eye-sore.

2. Insufficient data and numbers

Numbers are the most eye-catching parts of your resume – SAT, GPA, quantitative impact at work and in extracurriculars.

Numbers help your resume do the following:

-Highlight the main “takeaways” – you want at least 3 of these to have a strong resume

-Prevent your resume from suffering the “too full of text” disease

-Help your resume be more results-focused

3. Missing a hobbies and interests section

Use only one line, avoid generic hobby descriptions, don’t put more than five.

4. Insignificant awards/scholarships/fellowships

Point 4 and Point 5 fall into the category of “too much useless content in the education section”.

Unless it’s a nationally or internationally recognized honor, don’t include it. If you do include it, explain exactly how selective and tough it was to receive.

5. Long coursework lists

It’s great that you took “Information Management”. Only:

-No one knows what the class covers

-No one cares about what you learned

-No reviewer will understand how that applies to consulting

It’s ok to list tough classes taken on your resume for interviews (eg, Econometrics 101, Linear Equations 202). But include them only if:

-It’s clear what the course is about

-The topic of the course is quantitative and challenging

-You don’t list more than 5 classes