Why your CV isn’t good enough

1. It doesn’t even get read.

Do you send a covering letter? What makes you think anyone will want to open an attached file with no indication as to what it is? Check your cover writing skills here.

2. You haven’t included contact details.

I’ve seen it quite a few times – the CV is alright, and you’re about to get a call… but you’ve not included your phone number. You were given a chance, but it’s not worth the hassle of emailing you back. The next applicant gets the call.

3. You’ve listed parental duties as work experience.

This seems to have popped up a few times – those who haven’t worked for a while would do something similar to this:

Nov 2009 – Oct 2013
Parent

-Managing two small children
-Organising days out
-Money management
-Teaching skills: reading, writing, speaking, creativity.

Yes, you’ve used the gap in your work history creatively, but it will most likely be laughed at.

4. You haven’t listed any work experience.

If you’ve been unemployed for a long time (e.g 13 years…)  you’ll find you don’t really have all that much to talk about on your CV. What to do? Hopefully if you’ve got to the point where you genuinely want to work, you wouldn’t say no to a spot of volunteering – a great way of building skills and experience into what will otherwise remain an empty space.

5. You’ve found room for insults.

A big no-no is insulting your previous interviewer. Doing this in your interview is bad enough, but managing to get it onto your CV is just plain terrible. What’s even worse (from our point of view!) is insulting agencies. It’s been seen a few times now – don’t slate agencies when applying to work through an agency!

6.You’ve obviously lied.

It’s not unusual for people to lie or bend the truth on their CV, and most of these lies just slip through unnoticed. HOWEVER, when you’re saying you have been working for a business that either doesn’t exist, or closed down a long time ago, you’re gonna get caught out.

7. Your email address is ridiculous.

A formal email address is expected for work/job seeking. thepenguinlord@hotmail.com isn’t really going to get you anywhere. Neither is therealganga@… or timelordderek@…


8. You didn’t even spell check…

As pretty much all CV’s now are made in MS Word, you have no real excuse not to have spell checked it! Grammar and punctuation are the most simple features of writing which must be adhered to, yet so many people misunderstand just how important they are to an application.

9. It’s too long or too short..

A one paragraph CV is as much use as a 4 page one. If there’s not enough – there’s nothing to impress. If there’s too much, it’s not worth the hassle –  Sad but true.

10. It just doesn’t make sense. 

Some people have rambling down to a fine art, and often forget there is a difference between writing a letter to a friend and creating a document to apply for a work.

 

 

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