4 Annoying CV Mistakes That Will Cost You the Job

4 Annoying CV Mistakes That Will Cost You the Job

Your CV is the first contact with the Recruiting Manager and how it represents you can make or break your chances of getting that job you are eyeing. Today’s job market has grown to be competitive and one cannot afford errors, no matter how tiny they might be, as it is exceptionally difficult to repair the damage once an employer gets to see it.

Here are 4 annoying CV mistakes that could cost you the job.

1. Grammatical errors and typos

Sloppiness is one of the biggest mistakes job seekers are making in today’s job market. Nobody wants to hire a sloppy person. In today’s day and age, there are so many options that one can use to ensure that their CV is free of grammatical errors and typos.

“I come across so much misuse of words such as your/you’re and incorrect spellings such as “finnce”, “manged” and many others, which speak a lot to the kind of candidate the person is,” says Carolyne Kariuki, Recruitment Manager at Corporate Staffing Services.

Take time and review your CV, give a friend or family member to help review it so as to ensure it’s free of grammatical errors and typos.

2. Giving irrelevant information

A recruiter will want to know you better through your CV, but that does not mean you put everything about you in a CV. Some might be irrelevant, especially in a job search.

“You don’t have to put everything you’ve done under your work experience as too much irrelevant information could obscure the parts of your CV that demonstrate your abilities for the job at hand” advises Carolyne.

Recruiters don’t want to know how many kids you have, your likes and dislikes, your most embarrassing moments or your most memorable moments. Keep such information for friends and colleagues.

Your CV does not have to include such information or every job you have held, tone it down a notch and put those that speak to the job you are applying for.

3. Failure to demonstrate results

You have the work experience that the employer is looking for, but your CV does not demonstrate results in the positions you’ve held. It only lists your responsibilities. Show how well you performed your job by showing the results you produced.

For instance, instead of writing “organized filing system”, write something like, “Reorganized the finance department filing system, correcting 3 years of improper filling and making accessibility easy.

Of key importance is to lay emphasis on your performance on the job by showing the results you produced.

4. Incorrect contact information

“Many candidates include contact information that is not correct and when you try reaching them, they are nowhere to be reached”, laments Carolyne. Always ensure that your phone number is correct and so is your email address. When you send your CV in application for a job, and successfully you receive a call inquiry from a recruiter, don’t be rude. Many job seekers have victims of this, with some asking, “Kwani wewe ulikuwa unatafuta nani?”

Courtesy goes a long way. I have seen many candidates dropped from the interview list faster than you can say “hot bread”, all because of the lack of phone courtesy.