5 Things That Should Never Be In Your CV

Don’t you wish your CV was so perfect that the moment a recruiting manager goes through it, he decides to hire you?

Don’t you wish you knew exactly what points in your CV will nail the job for you and what will get the CV trashed immediately?

Your CV is the first opportunity to highlight to a potential employer why you’re the ideal candidate for the role. But with just a few pages to impress, you need to stick to relevant and impactful information only.

When putting a CV together you need to consider whether each section is boosting the strength of your applications. If it isn’t, then you’ll need to remove it.

To help you out, here are five things not to put in your CV.

1. Lies

In your CV, you should be showcasing the best possible version of yourself. But that doesn’t mean you can bend the truth.

Employers will fact check the experiences and qualifications you have added to your CV and if you’ve lied at any point, this will show as a lack of honesty and integrity. It could also result in an employer rejecting your application.

If you don’t have all the skills required in the job specification, don’t lie on your CV and say you do. Instead, document how you plan to develop those strengths in the future, or what actions you’re currently taking to implement that growth.

2. Buzzwords and Clichés

Saying, “I’m hardworking, reliable, and a team player,” is like saying you’re human. It does not add any value.

The same goes for jargon and acronyms. Unless technical insight is vital to the role, keep your jargon to the minimum so that a layperson can read it. In many cases, the HR team will be the first to look over your CV and they won’t have the expertise needed to dissect role-specific terms.

Use your CV as an opportunity to show your skills rather than just talking about them. Don’t say you’re a team player—if that skill is vital to the position—take the opportunity to provide a solid and quantifiable example of when you were a team player and how that benefited the company and team. Then, have a professional go over your CV to ensure it makes sense to someone with little to no job knowledge.

3. Skills graphs

Your CV should provide accurate information. Skills graphs with random rating systems will therefore not help you in any way. There is limited benefit to rating your skills in this manner, as it’s all based on assumption.

Stating you are an 8 out of 10 for communication skills is just based on personal opinion and isn’t something an employer can factor into the decision making process.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t highlight your skills in your CV. Instead, add a ‘skills section’ with proper measures, such as years of experience, or level of qualifications earned.

4. Personal Details

You might be tempted to get personal in your CV to demonstrate who you are as a person to your potential employer, but that’s one of the biggest things not to put in your CV.

Instead, keep your focus on the details that matter. Use the limited space you have to tell the reader about recent work successes, hobbies that relate to your work, and experiences that relate to the job at hand. And remain as professional as possible, even when it comes to your email address, since 76% of CVs are ignored if the email address is unprofessional.

5. Grammar mistakes

Before you submit any applications, you should proofread for grammar or spelling errors in your CV. Make sure to double check and potentially even get a professional to review your CV to make sure you haven’t missed any obvious mistakes.

Grammar mistakes come across as a lack of attention to detail to the employers and can mean the flow of the CV is lost.

Need more help with writing your CV? Reach out to a CV writing professional here!