What makes
a bad CV?
There are plenty of advice available online talking about how
to write a good CV: what to do, what to include, how to write it. But what
shouldn’t you do? What makes a bad CV, Things not to be included in CV, a CV
that could potentially put recruiters off?
We go through thousands upon thousands of CVs, and along with
many very good ones, we have also seen
a few that have committed one or more of the following CV sins:
Too long: A CV might
run onto a few pages, but it can’t be War and Peace. It is unlikely that a
recruiter will read from start to finish if it’s that long. The optimum length
of a CV is 2-4 pages and absolutely no more than 6 pages.
Too short: On the
other hand, a project manager with 30 years’ experience who sends a brief, one
page summary covering all of their work may need to expand a little. In either
instance, whether too long or too short, jobseekers should focus on writing
about their most relevant and most recent jobs. Older, less relevant jobs
should also be included, but only a quick, brief summary should be included
with each one.
Disjointed: Ideally,
jobs listed on a CV should run in reverse chronological order: newest to
oldest. The other way around isn’t too bad, but make sure it flows one way or
another – jobs ordered in any other way (e.g. by industry, then by time) can be
very confusing to read by a recruiter.
No dates
(or just years): Some jobseekers have been known to leave out the
number of years they have worked at each job, so the recruiter has no idea how
long they were employed in each instance. Just as bad is leaving out the months
and only including the years: if someone worked “2009-2010,” did they work two
years (January 2009 to December 2010) or less than two months (December 2009 to
January 2010)?
Gaps in
employment: The jobs you have held should be continuous and any gaps
should be explained, e.g. in education, in hospital, travelling abroad. Give a
“reason for leaving” – if it’s a fair enough reason, it shouldn’t be a
hindrance in getting a job.
No skills? For IT
jobs in particular, candidates need to include details of their skills. As you
can imagine, it’s not great if a technical support person does not list which
operating systems and software they are experienced with.
Writing in
the 3rd person: Not many CVs get written in the 3rd person:
admittedly, it sometimes happens when a company has written about a candidate
elsewhere and the candidate has simply copied and pasted that info into their
CV. CVs should be personal, so they should really be written in the 1st person.
Poor
spelling and grammar: This one is obvious, but make sure to look beyond
using your word processor’s Spell Check to check for spelling mistakes in a CV.
Grammar is
important as well: if you know you’re not the best when it comes to
grammar then be sure to ask someone to proof read your CV before you pass it on
to recruiters.
Unusual
fonts and font sizes: Using a fancy font may seem like a good idea, but
your CV must be readable. Also, avoid reducing the font size too much, which is
a technique implemented by some jobseekers trying desperately to squeeze a long
CV into fewer pages.
Incorrect
paper size for printing: Use A4 as the paper size. Many CVs arrive to Computer
Recruiter in letter size and they don’t always print out as they should. You
wouldn’t want a bit missed from your CV because it’s been chopped off or –
worse still – for the recruiter or potential employer to have difficulty
printing it off properly.
Non-standard
file types: CVs in PDF format might seem like a good idea and are fine
when forwarding a CV directly to an employer, but recruitment agencies often
need to make minor alterations to CVs, such as removing contact details and
putting their name and reference on instead. Microsoft Word format is preferred
(and if you can, make sure it’s a .doc file instead of a .docx, as the latter
is not recognised by older versions of Word).
Incorrect
contact details: So you’ve spent hours updating your CV and it’s
finally ready to send out. Just double-check that your address, email and phone
numbers are up-to-date and correct, arguably some of the most important bits of
information on a CV. It’s surprising how many people overlook this and they
could potentially miss out on a great job opportunity simply because a
recruiter or employer cannot get in touch with them.
So, carefully update our CVs now and grab the best job
opportunities coming your way.
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