4 CV Mistakes That Will Cost You the Job

Imagine you are a recruiter going through a document that is cluttered, full of mistakes and is not meeting your set standards. How long will it take you to put it aside? Probably a few seconds. That applies to the employers when reviewing your Curriculum Vitae.

Your CV is the first contact and how you present your qualifications can make or break your chances of getting that job you are eyeing.

Today’s job market has grown to be competitive and one cannot afford errors, no matter how tiny they might be, as it is exceptionally difficult to repair the damage once an employer gets to see it.

Let us look at some 4 CV mistakes we make that lead the recruiter to put it in the rejected pile.

1. Grammatical errors and typos

The recruiter looks at your ‘keen to details’ skill by the way your CV is written. Sloppiness is one of the biggest mistakes job seekers are making in today’s job market. This breaks your chances as it is a big red flag to the hiring manager.

“I come across so much misuse of words such as your/you’re and incorrect spellings such as “finnce”, “manged” and many others, which speak a lot to the kind of candidate the person is,” says Grace, Recruitment Manager at Corporate Staffing Services.

Take time and review your CV, ask a friend to help review to ensure it’s free of grammatical errors and typos.

2. Giving irrelevant information

Shy away from overwhelming the recruiter with a lot of information. Yes, a recruiter will want to know you better through your CV, but that does not mean you put everything about yourself in a CV. Some might be irrelevant, especially in a job search.

You don’t have to put everything you’ve done under your work experience as too much irrelevant information could obscure the parts of your career history that demonstrate your abilities for the job at hand.

Your CV does not have to include information about your hobbies or every job you have held, tone it down a notch and put those that speak to the job you are applying for.

3. Failure to demonstrate results

You may have the work experience that the employer is looking for, but your CV does not demonstrate results in the positions you’ve held. It only lists your responsibilities. This breaks your chances as you undersell yourself. Show how well you performed your job by showing the results you produced.

For instance, instead of writing “organized filing system”, write something like, “Reorganized the finance department filing system, correcting 3 years of improper filling and making accessibility easy.

It is of key importance that you emphasize your performance on the job by showing the results you produced.

4. Incorrect contact information

Most of the time recruiters are faced with a dilemma in contacting the candidate. Many candidates include contact information that is not correct and when you try reaching them, they are nowhere to be reached.

Always ensure that your phone number is correct and so is your email address. When you send your CV in application for a job, and successfully receive a call inquiry from a recruiter, don’t be rude.

Courtesy goes a long way. I have seen many candidates dropped from the interview list faster than you can say “hot bread”, all because of the lack of phone courtesy.

Conclusion

If you want to avoid CV mistakes, getting professional help is a great option. Employers are more selective these days, so a professional CV could help you get hired. Our Professional CV writing services can help you create a job-winning CV.