If you’re applying for lots of roles, but not receiving many interview invitations, it is probably time to improve your CV. Your CV needs to make your skills and experience stand out to recruiters, so they shortlist you for interview. However, it’s also important to avoid some of the common CV mistakes, which negate your CV writing efforts and may result in your CV being discarded. This article provides tips to help you avoid the most common CV writing errors.
Spelling or grammatical errors
Over 80% of CVs contain grammatical, or spelling mistakes. Most recruiters will instantly discard a CV with these errors, as this displays a lack of attention to detail. Use a spell checker, then print your CV and proofread it thoroughly, as this makes it easier to spot errors. You may also want to ask a friend to proofread it, as sometimes people find it more difficult to notice errors in their own work.
Exaggerating the truth
Never lie on your CV or stretch the truth by altering your job title, employment dates or education details. Whilst you may look good on paper, you will be found out at interview, or thorough background checks and this is likely to result in an employment offer being withdrawn. Worse, if you start the role, then it becomes apparent you have lied on your CV you can be sacked for gross-misconduct.
Content which is not relevant
It’s important to tailor your CV by researching the key skills, experience and knowledge the recruiter is looking for from the job description, and tailoring your CV to emphasise these. Often, people write their CV based on the duties in their current or previous roles, which may or may not match what the recruiter is looking for. You can find further information and tips on tailoring your CV in this blog post.
The aim of tailoring your CV is to make you look a perfect match for the role, so it’s important to emphasise how you match the role requirements, and minimise any differences, by removing or glossing over skills and experience which you will not use in the role. If you are moving to a role which requires a different skill set, for instance, moving from care work to customer service, focus your CV on providing an excellent standard of care to patients, updating relatives and resolving concerns, rather than including a detailed list of training courses, or lots of detail on your care work duties.
Tailoring your CV to each role avoids irrelevant content, so please review your CV for relevance before you send it. Whilst working in HR, I received so many CVs with a career objective / statement about what they were looking for, which had no relevance to the role they were applying for. I do not usually recommend including a career objective anyway, as recruiters are interested in what you can do for them, rather than what you’re looking for.
Poor formatting
When you write your CV, make it as easy as possible for the recruiter to review. Use bullet points in your employment history, education and other sections, aiming for 6-8 bullet points for your most recent roles, as this is much easier to skim read than long blocks of text. Choose a traditional CV template, so it’s easy for the recruiter to quickly assess your skills and experience. Avoid CV styles or templates with bright colours, multiple columns or unusual fonts, as these draw attention to the design rather than the content, making them difficult to review.
Focussing on duties, rather than achievements
Recruiters are looking for high achievers with a proven track record of success, the best way to demonstrate this is by including two or three stand-out achievements per role which are relevant to the role you are applying for. Add metrics to evidence your achievements. Achievements can include revenue generation, cost savings, time savings, people helped, process efficiencies, key projects, awards and recognition etc. Many people focus on their day-to-day duties, rather than their achievements, however this doesn’t help you to stand out.
Making your CV too long
Your CV needs to summarise your skills, experience and achievements concisely, containing your last 10-15 years experience. You can summarise your earlier roles to job titles, company names and dates, include one or two bullet points, or delete your earlier roles. If you cannot fit your CV onto two pages without losing important content from your recent roles, please don’t worry! Most recruiters prefer a three-page CV over a CV which is squeezed onto two pages in a tiny font with insufficient information.
If you’ve recently finished school and your CV is only half a page long, this meets expectations, please don’t try to stretch it out. Remember these are general guidelines, an academic CV or medical CV has different CV conventions and will be longer.
Whilst working at a recruitment agency, I once received an eleven-page CV, complete with contents page, and pages of recommendations. Please don’t be memorable for the wrong reasons!
Not keyword optimising your CV
Keyword optimisation is a process of researching, analysing and selecting the right keywords to use in a document such as your CV or on a website. Most recruitment systems and CV databases (Indeed, Monster, Total Jobs etc) order their results by relevance – how closely it matches the keywords. Recruiters will only review most relevant results, your CV may be automatically rejected by a recruitment system if it only matches a few keywords, it is also unlikely to show up in online searches – even though you may be perfect for the role. You can find further information and tips on how to keyword optimise your CV in this blog post.
Incorrect contact information
The recruiter needs to be able to contact you to invite you to interview. Always ensure your mobile number and email address is correct. Avoid using an unprofessional sounding email address. You can easily set up an email address like firstname.surname or firstname_surname at gmail/hotmail/yahoo etc, just don’t forget to check your emails regularly, or forward them to an email address you regularly use.
Gaps in your employment history
If you’ve had a gap in your employment history, put in a one line statement – career break whilst caring for my young family / elderly relative. Otherwise, you’ll leave the recruiter wondering why you weren’t working. Please don’t be tempted to stretch the dates of your other roles to hide the gap.
Irrelevant personal information
Don’t include personal information such as date of birth, marital status, nationality and religion. It’s irrelevant to your application and can lead to discrimination. You don’t need to include a photo, whilst it’s really common in Europe and the Middle East, it is not required in the UK. Only include your hobbies and interests if they’re relevant to the role, or you are a recent school-leaver with limited employment history.
Generic clichés
Avoid generic clichés such as hard-working, team player and enthusiastic. Instead, demonstrate these skills through your achievements, and let the recruiters draw their own conclusions.
Avoid including salary expectations
Recruiters will instantly discard your application if this is outside their salary range. It’s better to discuss salary at interview stage.
Do you need professional assistance in writing a stand-out CV which avoids these mistakes? I offer a full CV writing service – please don’t hesitate to contact me.
