Mistakes That Make Your CV Look Unprofessional

Wondering what some of the mistakes are that make your CV look unprofessional are?

Well, how many times have you seen a job advert and your first thought was that you were a 100% match for the job only for you to apply and never get a call from the employer?

Well if this is you, take a second look at your CV. A CV full of grammatical errors and exaggerated styling does not give you that oomph that employers are looking for.

“You could be the best candidate there is for the job but if your CV does not communicate the same you are going nowhere in your job search,” says Muthoni Ndegwa a Recruitment Manager at Corporate Staffing Services.

5 Mistakes That Make Your CV Look Unprofessional

1. Spelling & grammar mistake

How do you feel when you receive a text/WhatsApp message that is full of spelling errors you can barely go past the first line? You obviously toss it away and forget.

Now that’s the same thing that happens with your CV that is full of errors, the employer will barely go past the second line on your professional profile.

Job seekers out there, note that one small grammatical error will cost you a job. Proofread your CV 10 times if you have to but make sure that your document is free of errors.

2. An unprofessional email address

Your email address should remain as professional as possible. Avoid using nicknames as part of your email. An email such as shikucute@yahoo.com gives an impression of an immature person.

It might come as a shock too, but using Gmail also makes you look more professional as opposed to Yahoo. Do not forget that Gmail also comes with an added advantage to you as a job seeker; you can store your CV in the Google drive which saves you the trouble of losing your documents when you format your machine and such issues.

3. A generic CV

Whenever you are applying for a job, make sure that you customize your CV to the job you are applying for.

Employers are looking for skills and experience that match their vacant role which means you have to bring that out on your CV. Failure to do this only means that you are not communicating fully to the employer.

4. Mistakes That Make Your CV Look Unprofessional-Inappropriate filename

‘Karis 2016 CV’, is this how you have saved you CV? Then stop wondering why employers are not looking at your CV when you apply for those MD positions yet you have been working for the last 15 years.

Use your official name to same your document, something simple as ‘John Kariuki CV’ is enough and also appropriate beside the recruiter does not need to do any editing when saving your CV for interview consideration.

5. Going overboard with formatting/styling

A CV is supposed to be a very simple document; the formatting should be kept minimally. Use bullets and well-summarized sentences as employers do not have time to go through prose work due to the huge number of CVs they have to go through.

Finally, on mistakes that make your CV look unprofessional, a CV writing Professional at Corporate Staffing Services says that a CV is the only document that stands between you being called for an interview and you searching for a job forever without getting one.

Is your Cv getting you interviews, contact our CV writing department for a free professional CV review today. Email your CV to cvwriting@corporatestaffing.co.ke, email subject, Review My CV.