Every CV has the same mistakes! It’s not like a Roulette when everything is random and you cannot predict for which things your CV will be rejected. Let’s look at 4 typical mistakes, check and improve your CV where necessary.
Excess Information
Too much information is found in experienced professionals. This includes skill descriptions and responsibilities and education and personal achievements.
There are two types of reading any article or text:
- Superficial (a quick scan through the headlines).
- Sequential (reading each sentence and paragraph).
Here’s what HR professionals do. They first scan the resume with their eyes, stopping only at the important things, and decide whether or not to take the time to study it in detail.
The task is to help the HR specialist understand who you are and what you want. For each job, it’s enough to specify only the main responsibilities and achievements. In the additional education section, you should write only the main courses.
Be laconic, write about the main things. You will be asked more about everything at the interview.
If you have 3 or more jobs and more than 5 years of experience, you can do two pages. Two pages is the maximum you can afford.
Complicated or Incomprehensible Job Titles
Check your CV. If you read only the job titles, do you want to hire you?
When an employer sees the form for the first time, he quickly runs through it with his eyes to make sure that the applicant is suitable. If the job title is floridly written, they will put the resume aside to read it later.
Using Hackneyed Phrases
What do you usually write on your resume about personal qualities? Roughly the following:
- Punctuality.
- Purposefulness.
- Responsibility.
- Accuracy.
- Communicability.
- Aiming at the result.
- Striving for professional growth.
- High teachability.
Such phrases don’t increase the chances of employment and don’t mean anything for a long time, so you don’t need them.
A Lot of Personal Information
Besides basic information, you can find numerous hobbies, age of children, mentioning the presence of pets, car brand, several phones for communication, Skype or icq number, biography, reasons for leaving places of work and so on. It’s unnecessary to provide all of this information.
The CV is a business document, and personal information should be there to the minimum:
- Make sure the photo is in business style. No photos from parties or resorts.
- Leave only one phone number and email for contact. Delete duplicate feeds.
- Your personal information is full name, contacts, your city and age.
- Check if you write too much about yourself.
How to Explain a Mistake in Your CV
There are times when an employer is interested in your application, but an error is discovered during the review.
Here’s how to argue the error correctly:
- Don’t dwell on it. Briefly mention the error, and if possible, send a corrected resume.
- If the error is discovered during the interview – explain that it doesn’t affect the quality of your work.
- When the error is not important and not noticed after the interview, don’t mention it at all.
- Always underestimate the importance of the error and overlay it with your merits and business benefits.
