6 Reasons Your CV Is Not Getting You There!

“My CV isn’t getting me the jobs I need”

“I have been constantly applying for opportunities but I can’t seem to find a job”

“How should I structure my CV, to show that I am a professional?”

These are just snippets of questions and concerns I get from candidates on a daily basis. Getting your desired job shouldn’t be a tedious process. The answer lies in your CV.

What should your CV do for you? A CV is like a proposal or pitch that goes before you to sell you to a potential employer. It is meant to speak for you and present you as a professional absolutely capable of carrying out the job you are applying for.

It needs to be professional, bringing out meaningful and relevant information regarding your career such as your education background, experience, and the track record of accomplishments you have acquired.

Very few CVs meet these criteria. The mistakes a candidate makes on the CV are what make a potential employer think twice about calling you for that interview.

Here is a break down;

Having a peculiar email address

There is nothing that screams unprofessionalism than,  having an email address that looks funny. The email addresses outlined in the contact details on your CV or ones used to send out applications need to be professional. An email like mwasmzito@gmail.com or princessesshi@gmail.com is definitely not professional.

Seek to use your official names for email addresses with dots, commas and numbers to make them more unique. An email like ann.wangui12@yahoo.com is a lot better.

Obvious spelling mistakes

There is nothing as off-putting as a CV that has obvious spelling and grammatical mistakes that can be easily avoided. It is important to read and reread your CV to rid it of these errors as such present you as careless and one who cannot take a keen interest in the little things. As such you might miss out on job opportunities.

Using unusual styling

Thinking that one needs to make the CV stand out, by all means, some candidates add all sorts of colors to the template of the CV and use very unprofessional font types when doing it complete with images.

It is important to use a very professional font like Times New Roman, Calibri, or Palatino Linotype and corporate colors like Blue or Purple can be used subtly to kill the monotony to present you as a serious and professional candidate.

Being brief on the CV

In a bid to make the CV short and ‘concise’, there are people who think that doing away with important elements like duties and responsibilities and only having the position, the place of work, and duration of work is what makes it more presentable.

On the contrary, this presents you as a laid-back individual who is not serious about what he or she is looking for.

It is very important to have the duties and responsibilities clearly outlined. However, there is a catch. Not all roles need to be outlined in the CV.

Instead, capitalize on the most specific duties relevant to the career you are in as opposed to including even the most general ones like “Offering help to my team members when required to.

Having an overly long CV

Individuals with over 10 years of experience who have worked for more than 5 organizations tend to have a longer CV than those who possess an experience of between 1 to 9 years. In most cases, these CVs go to over 5 pages which is very unnecessary.

Most employers tend to look at the three most recent experiences and ignore the rest. What one has the most recent experience in is what is considered to be an expert in.

Lying

Writing that you’re an expert in Microsoft Excel might seem like a great idea at the time, but when you get the job and are asked to do a task in Excel you will instantly regret your decision.

My advice; be real about what you know and what you’re still keen to learn. Don’t forget that skills can always be taught.

Avoid the mistakes above and your CV will most definitely land you the interview that will edge you closer to that dream job.

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