Biggest CV Mistakes to avoid

If your job hunt is failing, chances are your CV is letting you down.

Biggest & Most Common CV Mistakes

When you are applying for a job your CV is the first impression that you making with you future employer. These are a list of the biggest and most common mistakes we have found that people make with their CV’s. It’s rare for any one single CV mistake to cause instant rejection, but usually a combination of a few that stop candidates from getting shortlisted. Check your CV for any of the following errors and get them fixed if you want to start landing job interviews.

CV Mistakes

The look

So often i will see a CV that just look terrible. With millions of free CV templates on internet you have no excuse to having a cv that looks unprofessional. This is a clear indication to your potential employer that you are either not bothered or just not resourceful. We have made a list of some of the best free CV online.  These are some easy to edit CV that will make you stand out.

Huge un-broken paragraphs

This is any reader worst nightmare – especially when those readers are looking at hundreds of CVs every week. Instead of making employers wade through large messy chunks of text; break the information up into short paragraphs and bullet points. This way they will be able skim read your CV and easily spot the information that they are looking for.




Elaborate Fonts

One of the most important aspects of an effective CV is that it should be easy for recruiters and employers to read. Whilst it can be tempting to use a fancy font to add a bit of elegance to your CV, it will actually make your CV tough to read and give recruiters a bit of a headache.

If you were sifting through hundreds of CVs a week, which font would you be more pleased to see? Use a simple, clean font like Arial or Tahoma for a professional easy-to-read CV.

Too Many Pages

A seven page CV is not going to be read by a busy recruiter or employer – they just don’t have the time when dealing with scores of applications. Keep your CV as close to two pages as possible and make your points short and sharp, to ensure that you are communicating the important information quickly and creating a high impact CV.




Your Photo

Unless you’re a model or actor, then a photograph will not add value to your CV; especially not a professionally staged shot with an attempt at a profound looking pose. The best it will achieve is a few laughs from recruiters as it gets passed round the office for their amusement. Space on your CV is limited so use it wisely by filling it with compelling content that will convince the reader that you are worthy of an interview.

Meaningless clichés

Your CV should focus on hard facts like skills, achievements and industry knowledge. Cliché Phrases like “works well in a team or individually” or “blue-sky thinker with a can-do attitude” may look fancy but they don’t actually tell anybody much about you. Concentrate on explaining exactly what you’ve done for your employer and how it has benefited the organisation to show the positive impact that can be made by hiring you. Bulking out your CV with vague and overly complex descriptions like the one above will just confuse and annoy employers.




Not including enough detail in current role

Your current (or most recent) role, is one of the most important factors in your CV. After giving your CV a quick scan, most recruiters will jump straight to your current role and study it in some detail. The reason for this is that your current role gives recruiters the greatest indication of what you’re currently capable of.

If you have rushed the addition of your latest job to your CV and you’re not including all of your newly acquired skills and experience, then you are doing yourself a great disservice. When updating your CV, dedicate some serious time and effort to writing your latest role, it will pay off in the long run. The only time this could be acceptable is if you are a recent school leaver and your most recent role is less relevant than  your education or other factors in the CV.

Spelling Mistakes

With automatic spell checkers coming as standard with most word processing packages, you really shouldn’t have incorrectly spelt words on your CV. It goes without saying that spelling mistakes will damage the perception of your CV massively. Don’t become completely reliant on spellcheck to eliminate all errors though – it won’t always pick up typos or miss-used words, so take the time to proof read your CV.




Lies

This is one of the most important items. Lies on your CV such as improved qualifications or fabricated experience are not advised. Do some people lie on their CV and get away with? Sure, some people probably do… but it’s not worth the risk. Firstly, diligent recruiters will look into facts that don’t add up, so you could find yourself getting caught out in the early stages and even blacklisted from certain agencies. Secondly, if you manage to blag a job based on skills and experience that you don’t have; you’re going to struggle to perform from day one in the job, and will eventually get caught out anyway.




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