Don't make these C.V Mistakes if you want to get a job

Don't make these C.V Mistakes if you want to get a job

Latest research shows that recruiters spend less than 10 seconds on your CV before deciding whether to progress you to the interview stage or not, so if you're making some fundamental CV mistakes you're killing your chances of securing an interview, what mistakes will cost you the interview and ultimately the job in this article I'll explain how to avoid these resume mistakes and get to the interview stage.

Have Too much personal information

First of all, I don't even recommend having your photo on your CV, I know that in many countries it is a common practice to include a picture in a CV but I think it can take away attention from your experiences and achievements, so perhaps it is better to just include a Linkedin profile URL in your resume or CV and if someone wants to check out your pictures they can just click on the link.

also please don't include things like your marital status, your visa status, your nationality, your date of birth, and your exact address this is not information that is required for the recruiter to decide whether you're the right candidate or not.

finally don't include things like I enjoy traveling or I love cooking and socializing you need to spend the space on your CV wisely so I recommend just including things relevant to the role you're applying to.

Poor format and layout

this is the most common mistake that I see and the one that people don't realize they're making, and it's obvious because people don't have experience creating CVs or reviewing CVs daily, but the design and format and template are the first thing that stands out when someone opens your CV, so you need to make sure that the information is portrayed logically and clearly.

remember you need to make the life of recruiters easy it's not the job to try to read through pages of unorganized text or figure out your dates and job titles, luckily it's so easy to fix this mistake you just need a professional CV template and stick to it and that's why I recommend VisualCv, is a perfect CV tool for students, new graduates, and professionals, visualCv offers thousands of CV samples to use as well as ATS optimized resume templates and you can also create the professional cover letter or personal statement to match your CV design.

Not using the first page of your CV effectively

many professionals do not realize that recruiters can decide without making it to the second or third page of your CV so please if you have a CV longer than one page make sure that the most relevant information is included on the first page.

in general, if you have less than three years of full-time work experience I recommend a one-page CV and that means you have to be very wise with what stays and what goes, just keep in mind if someone didn't make it to the second page of your CV did you make it clear in the first page of your CV that you are the right kid for the role.

Not tailoring your CV

for example, if you're applying for a marketing role or relationship management role your CV cannot be the same why is that, because in different roles, different technical knowledge, experience, and skills are valued and your CV needs to reflect the choice of the sector and role.

how to tailor your CV?

you will need to study the job descriptions for the role of your choice and figure out what are the key skills that being asked over and over perhaps what experiences and technical knowledge are required by most roles then you need to make sure that your cv demonstrates at least half of this required skills and I'm not saying that your cv needs to be different for each role you're applying to but if you're applying for somewhat different roles then your cv version has to be different.

in summary, if someone is looking at your resume or CV and a job description they need to be certain that you're the right candidate for the role no one is going to read between the lines especially if they just have 10 seconds to look at your resume.

Not saving your CV in a PDF

I don't recommend saving your CV in any other format except PDF and do not share your CV in Word or any other format unless the company explicitly asks for it why is that, PDF is the most common CV format in the world so I'm sure that applicant tracking systems can read it, also PDF files look the same no matter the device or operating system you open it on so if someone is checking your CV on the phone it will look very neat but the word forward can look very different depending on where it is opened.

also, a quick tip name your CV file by your name not company or position name so for example you can label it as name surname CV or name surname resume.

Not talking about achievements and results

a lot of people when they describe their past work experience or positions of responsibility they just list the tasks they had in particular roles, it's not a horrible mistake but I do recommend talking about your past experience in the form of achievements and results why is that, you need to show transferable skills because most likely you're applying for a somewhat different role now and you have grown out of your previous position.

you also want to stand out as an achiever someone can bring results and if you're gonna give facts, numbers, figures, and proper achievements from your past roles you'll definitely gonna stand out compared to other candidates so how do you do that, when you're talking about your past responsibility ask yourself a question "what was the point of me doing that task?" and then you can explain exactly what you did, how you did it, and what was the purpose or result. I recommend three, or four bullet points for each role depending on how much time you spend in that position and what was your overall impact.

Spelling and punctuation mistakes

please spend that extra time reviewing your CV for any punctuation or spelling errors, I know that it seems like an easy thing to fix but I still see so many spelling mistakes in CVs, how do you do that:

first of all, you can print out your CV it will help you spot any errors also ask your friends or family to review your resume, and there is some spell-checking software such as Grammarly that can help you avoid some mistakes and I think that producing professional CV you're showing the manager that you're going to produce the same quality of work for the organization without any mistakes and errors.

Hard to read sentences and paragraphs

As I mentioned previously your CV format is very important so it should be very easy to find relevant information that is why you need to use bullet points wisely and highlight text as appropriate and please do not include any long paragraphs of text or any long hard-to-read sentences.

at first instance your CV is checked very quickly, it does not check like an essay at your school or university that is why you need to value people's time and be as brief as possible while still getting your points across.

Focusing on soft skills

a lot of people when writing their personal summaries or professional statements in a CV mention things like "I enjoy working in a team", and "I can bring results to an organization", these and it is great things to mention but trust me that is what everyone is saying so if you have a proper section in your CV do not list numerous soft skills such as "I can work well under pressure", "I have attention to detail", "I can lead teams rather".

I recommend focusing on who you are as a professional, what are your relevant qualifications? what is your relevant experience? organizations sectors industries locations?, and what relevant technical skills you have for the role?, as well as what are your professional strengths?, make sure that your summary is super tailored to who you are and no one else can use it.

Small fonts

As we discussed the point of a CV is to deliver information quickly so the text has to be very visible and in the right size, so people don't struggle to read it, I recommend these five fonts that I usually use: times new roman, Ariel, Helvetica, Calibri, and Cambria. and I recommend the size of your text be at least 10.5 points to 12 points.