Top 8 Annoying CV Mistakes That Jobs Seekers Make – HR Speaks Out

Sending in your CV for a job application is an easy step. You just have to send that email and wait back to be contacted for an interview.

On the flip side, rarely do we stop to think about the person reading the CV. Are you making their work easier or more difficult?

HR and hiring managers in general never have it easy as we may assume. They have to go through every CV looking for the best candidate. Their day is spent flipping from one CV to the other.

I sat down with Ms. Muthoni Ndegwa a Senior Recruitment Manager at Corporate Staffing Services to learn about what the entire recruitment process involves. She has reviewed more than 10,000 CVs and confesses that job seekers often blame the economy for lack of jobs while in reality, they themselves are responsible for the jobless situation they are in.

“Through all these years, there are certain annoying CV mistakes that job seekers make, that end up costing them jobs,” she laments.

Related: What Do Recruiters & Employers Look For In A CV At First Glance?

Most Annoying CV Mistakes HR Encounters Daily

“Let’s face it, I have a position that needs to be filled urgently and so I have to conduct the recruitment process fast. This means that if your CV is not appealing in the first few seconds, I won’t bother looking at it again,” she says.

According to her, here are the most annoying CV mistakes job seekers make.

1. Laziness

One of the biggest mistakes job seekers make is being sloppy. They don’t pay attention to detail.

Ms. Ndegwa says that she has encountered thousands of CVs with grammatical errors, outdated information, and unprofessional formats and fonts.

2. Very long summaries

Summaries are very annoying when they are long. Using too formal a language and too many adjectives she says can appears as if you are reading a very lengthy chapter in a book.

She advises that the best thing to do is to list your achievements in bullet form and have a short summary of your objectives where you state why you are the best candidate for the position.

3. Too much jargon

CV jargon such as “team player” and excellent communicator” among others are expected in today’s job market.

However, Ms. Ndegwa says that a job seeker who is genuine about being a good problem solver or good at working in teams will communicate that creatively in a few words and by use of imagery.

If you are struggling to write a CV that meets the standards of the current job market, contact us here for professional CV writing services.

4. Starting a bullet point with “responsible for”

When writing a CV it is good to go beyond just stating the work experience and indicate what you did in the position.

However starting a statement with “responsible for” only tells the hiring manager what you were supposed to do not the accomplishments you made.

As a job seeker, don’t be lazy she says. Take a few minutes of your time to explain what you accomplished not what you were supposed to do.

5. Being too formal

Again she says that in as much as you are supposed to keep it professional in your CV, being too formal is a turn-off.

According to Ms. Nwegwa, it is difficult to figure out a candidate’s personality when you keep it too formal. It makes it seem like you are trying to force the recruitment manager to like you.

Instead, when writing a CV, assume that you are talking face to face with that person, why would they hire you?

What would you say to them about your suitability for the position?

Related: 10 Common CV Writing Mistakes That You Should Get Rid Of Now

6. Overlying too much on templates

Ms. Ndegwa says that too many job seekers rely too much on CV templates that are readily available online.

A CV template is designed to act as a guide of how your CV should look like not to be used as the actual CV.

Think of a template as a suit. A person wears a suit and then adapts to his or her own personality. Just the same, use the template to brand yourself as a job seeker and most importantly to communicate your achievements.

7. Using too much or too little white space

More than often candidates misuse white space by using too much or too little.

Cramming your sentences together leaving no space is very annoying and it is equally annoying when you have an ocean of white space just because you want your CV to appear longer.

8. Taking too much space with your contact information

“I have seen so many candidates use up to five lines just for their contact information.”

Save the space by just using one line to state your name, telephone number, and email address or let them be at the top.

“No one is interested in your marital status or religion or even health status as I saw on one particular CV,” she says.

See here a Free Sample CV Format for Kenyan Job Market

In the end, at the end of the day, you want to be taken seriously by the hiring manager. Take time to review your CV before sending it. Use The 10-Step CV Critique to determine if your CV has what it takes to be considered worthy. Always think about the reader before your send in your CV.

Related: How To Write A CV That Makes An Impact In 20 Seconds