Common CV Mistakes to Avoid

In this competitive market, the first thing that recruiters will look at is your CV and you would definitely want it to stand out from the crowd, surely for the right reasons.

Research shows that first 8-10 seconds of reading your CV is very crucial. Things like layout, spelling and Grammar have an effect on whether they bother reading your CV the whole way through.

Let me start off with probably the most basic yet common CV mistake; poor spelling and grammar. We all do before finalizing it but you would be surprised that even spell checker would not be able to do it for you most of the times so do it for you, check yourself, then check again, then read it out loud, and get someone else to look at it for you. This may sound a little off-track but spelling mistakes reflects a careless nature, and no manager will want carelessness in their team. It is so important that you make sure you check your spelling and grammar because it would be such a shame to be disregarded for something that could be easily avoided.

other point to be noted is the email address. You could have the best academics from a reputed university and great work experience, but if you’re using the same email address that you used to log into msn messenger, you will most probably be shunned. Spend 10 minutes to create a new account with a sense of Professionalism and use it only for job applications.

Another common CV mistake is having lots written down on paper but not really saying a great deal. Try using lesser words to say more. Your CV should be concise and to the point, there is no need to waffle on for 4 or 5 pages when 2 sides of A4 are more than enough. Employers look out for only specific points that related with the Job description and hence its important to have bullet points rather than long paragraphs. It may sound like tricky business, but the main thing to remember when writing your CV is to keep it simple. There’s no need to over complicate things, just make sure you are concise and to the point.

It is very important to make sure that information you give is relevant to the job that you are applying for. In case you have experience in variety of different roles, you can avoid including in your profile to avoid wasting space.

Industry keywords plays a very vital role when writing a CV. Most of the companies these days are turning to technology to initially help them with the CV’s they receive and if don’t have appropriate keywords on your profile, your CV will get lost in the pile.

Avoid clichés. It’s all very well saying you’re “committed” and a “team player”, but it’s very easy to list qualities that you may not necessarily have just to look good on your CV. It is always best to give examples to back up your points. Employers look through tons of CV’s and see the same thing over and over again, but brief examples of when you have shown certain skills and attributes will make you stand out.