7 Common CV Mistakes You Should Avoid

A lot of job applicants are prone to making mistakes when writing their CV for a Job. This post will highlight 7 common CV mistakes you should avoid when writing your CV. As expected, you should always proof-read and review your CV before you attach it to an email or to an online job advert.

However, most mistakes are not necessarily with the typos, but with the appropriate presentation of the content.

Your CV represents you in your absence. It is the very first impression an employer will have of you, so you don’t need to be spotted out for the wrong reason. Here are some of the 7 common CV mistakes you should avoid:

Spelling and Grammar

Spelling and grammatical errors in your CV shows a lack of care, commitment, and skill. It might be adjudged to an inability to pay attention to details. If you can’t correct your spelling and grammar in your CV, then an employer may feel that you lack good attitude towards work. Most job applicants rely on the built-in spell checker, you need to still proof-read it yourself or get an expert to read it over.

Quality over Quantity

An ideal CV ought to be one or two pages. Any more than that can be a question if the content is relevant to the job description. An example is whether hobbies and interest should be included, which is highly debatable and can depend on the job role, but they are not the most important aspect of your CV.

To save space on your CV, concentrate on your skills, previous experience, achievements and education/training as there are the most important part of your CV. Most employers don’t have that time to read 4-5 pages of CV, so keep it short, simple and concise.

Be Specific to the Role

You should consider the relevance of your CV contents with regards to the role applied for. If you have numerous job experience, it will be appropriate to include those that are relevant to the job. In fact, it is better to revolve your experience and skills around the position you are applying for so the CV can be attractive to the employer.

If you are applying for an IT Job, tailor your CV to experiences that involve a computer or any computer-related experience.

Avoid Uninspiring Phrases

Your CV is an important way of selling your self to your employer. Try to use words that best describe your personality than overused words like committed, team player. These words are not bad, but how does it make you stand out from other applicants. Instead of saying “I am a team player”, you could say, “I like to work in a team as it can produce faster results and we can build on each other’s strengths”.

Do you have difficulties writing a Personal Statement? See how to write a convincing personal statement for your CV. 

Format and Structure

Formatting is a very important part of your CV and you need to ensure it’s presentable in all aspects from structure and layout to font size, font style, and colour.

Avoid non-traditional fonts. Not only do they look unprofessional but they can often be hard to read. A particular font might look great on your CV, but chances are that it won’t be installed on the employers’ computer. This means the fonts you used will be changed to a default font and may look out of place.

To avoid this, you can export your CV in a PDF format. However, some employers may prefer Word documents so it is recommended to use default fonts like Arial, Calibri, Garamond, Times New Romans and Verdana as these are normally installed on almost every computer.

The best font-size is between 10-12pt with a black font. Ensure to keep all your content within the boundaries of the document. This is because, most employers will print your CV off and if anything is out of place, it could get cut off.

Don’t make your CV stand out for the wrong reason

In as much as you want your CV to stand out, but it shouldn’t be for the wrong reason. There are times when it’s best to keep certain aspects of your CV traditional. Recent attempts at making a CV stand out have been to change the colours, the page orientation and most controversially, add a photo.

Adding a photo or changing the colours could be a big turn off to your employer. Most employers are interested in the content of your CV than the look and style.

Correct and Professional Contact Details

Your spelling, grammar, content, and format might be well structured but you shouldn’t forget another crucial element of your CV and that is the contact details. Your CV might be an outstanding one, but it will be an effort in futility as your employer can’t get through to you via your contact details.

Ensure you have your latest contact number on your CV. Besides making sure your contacts are correct, they should be professional too.

Don’t include a funny email address. If you have any, go over to Gmail, Outlook or Yahoo and creates a new email address that comes across as professional. An email address that represents your full name is usually the best.

As long as you make sure your CV has been reviewed for possible mistakes, then you can go ahead and apply for that dream job of yours.