Your CV is usually the first
impression a potential employer has of you and it is important that you do not
spoil your chances before they even get to read the content by making poor
presentation choices or minor mistakes that become glaring mistakes to
potential employers.
This means taking your time over
your CV and ensuring that you have made it the best you can. Sometimes it is
beneficial to leave a couple of days in between the time you first write it and
your review, so that you come at it with a fresh pair of eyes. What is hugely
useful is getting other people to take a look over your CV to see if they spot
any errors or omissions as it is likely they will spot things you don’t.
When employers have to read a lot
of CV’s, they will find it easy to dismiss those that have basic errors that
should have been spotted. Therefore, it is critical you pay attention to some
of the most common mistakes made…
Visually Unappealing and/or Difficult to Read
Unless applying for some type of
creative role or attempting an ‘Alternative CV’ you should always print your CV
on white A4 paper as although you might think decorative paper is eye-catching,
it can be a real turn-off for potential employers.
It is also important not to try
and include too much information, which can make your CV appear cluttered with
long text and no white space. Remember, you want to try and make your CV as
easy to read as possible as that helps the recruiter. Bullet points and clear
headings are very useful as is an easy to read font that is a reasonable size.
Also, don’t be tempted to use lots of different fonts, this is a sure fire way
of making a CV look untidy.
Too Long or Too Short
The usual rule of thumb for CV’s
is that you should not exceed two A4 pages (one side) and ensure there is
plenty of white space on the page. This means being quite strict about what to
put in and what to leave out and of course the less relevant information can be
discarded if you need more space i.e. jobs you held a long time ago that aren’t
relevant to the position you are applying for.
If you are at the beginning of
your career, you might find that you don’t have enough information to pad out
two pages and you should not be tempted to do so. It’s much better to have a
really useful one page CV than a two page CV that has been filled up with
irrelevant information.
Always keep the reader in mind
and consider how your CV looks to an employer. How would you feel if the CV
landed on your desk?
Typing Errors and/or Poor Grammar
Your CV is a chance to
demonstrate the best aspects of your skills and abilities and although we all
make spelling and grammar mistakes from time to time, you really can’t allow
any of these to creep into your CV as potential employers will think that
you’ve made no effort or that you don’t care.
Although spellcheckers are wonderful tools, they cannot always be relied upon as they cannot differentiate between the word you meant to write and the one you might have spelled incorrectly such as ‘to’ and ‘too’ or even ‘aloud’ and ‘allowed’. Always ask someone else to read through your CV and preferably someone that is good at spelling and has a good grasp of English.
This is a short excerpt from our 'Writing a CV' training course materials that trainers can use to run their own training course on CV Writing Skills.
Although spellcheckers are wonderful tools, they cannot always be relied upon as they cannot differentiate between the word you meant to write and the one you might have spelled incorrectly such as ‘to’ and ‘too’ or even ‘aloud’ and ‘allowed’. Always ask someone else to read through your CV and preferably someone that is good at spelling and has a good grasp of English.
This is a short excerpt from our 'Writing a CV' training course materials that trainers can use to run their own training course on CV Writing Skills.
You can find this training course and many other training resources at our website www.trainerbubble.com
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