Common Errors

Human Resource departments and hiring managers generally have little patience for reading a CV. They will be more likely to reject your application than think about calling you for any clarification! Below is a list of seven common CV writing errors discovered on many applications -

1. Poor presentation – the presentation of your CV is as equally crucial as the actual content. You must be very careful. We believe as many as one third of all candidates with excellent experience ruin their hopes with a poorly presented CV, don’t let it happen to you!

2. CV is the incorrect length – you will not gain credit for writing a 3000 word report. You will also fail to be successful if you choose to summarise your working life within one page!

3. CV fails to add any value – if your CV has been submitted and is similar to another 40 or 50 candidates, there will be a likely chance that you will end up missing out and will never receive that all important phone call. Your CV must present the ‘WOW’ factor so that it is your name that is at the top of the pile!

4. Bad spelling and grammatical errors – your spelling and grammar should be perfect on every CV that is sent to a prospective employer. When you are in a hurry, mistakes are inevitable. When writing a CV great time and care must be taken in order to prevent silly mistakes!

5. Unimportant information - it is advisable to ensure any activities written on your CV have some form of relevance to your career. By placing irrelevant information on your CV demonstrates a lack of focus. For example, if you completed a 4-week Spanish course whilst travelling in Peru in 1987, this becomes not quite so relevant if you are now applying for a Senior Executive position!

6. Lack of focus – it can be easy to write your CV without focusing on the job you are applying for. If you decide to do this, you will inevitably create confusion. Ask yourself the question – Will my potential employer want a candidate that can do a bit of everything or will they want a candidate with focus?

7. Picture perfect - it is not advisable to display a photo on your CV. Nevertheless if this is necessary it is always wise to present a professional image!

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Rejections

When your CV is rejected it is very important to obtain feedback. This can be frustrating as very often there is a lack of feedback provided. It is not so good to hit the same stumbling block twice so make sure you do this!
Below are three common reasons for rejection-

1. You have too much experience

If you are declined for having too much experience, this can be because a CV illustrates excessive skill and/or education. This is of course, not entirely negative however employers will generally question your application. Basically little can be gained from submitting an application that could be suitable for a Financial Controller position when the employer is only looking for an Assistant Accountant.

Ask yourself the question; should I remove my key skills and experience so I can apply for this job? Well not really, you must re-align your CV with the role you are applying for. You must ensure that transferable skills are clearly specified and the vast majority of your skills can be matched to what is required in the position now, not in five years time.

2. Wrong team or culture fit

If you are rejected on the basis of ‘culture fit’ this not necessarily related to ethnicity. This rejection can be used quite generally by employers and some additional analysis is often needed to pinpoint the exact meaning of the rejection.

A common question is; how can an employer possibly assume that I am the wrong culture fit without meeting me in person? This can be very confusing. The answer could relate to any of the following-

CV is not specific
CV is too focused on exact technical skills
CV focuses too much on one particular industry for example Manufacturing or FMCG. Experience in those industries may be irrelevant to the position applied for
CV lacks corporate experience or perhaps illustrates too much corporate experience

You can counter this rejection by demonstrating transferable skills and/or transferable experiences/competencies on your CV.

3. Wrong industry fit

This could apply if perhaps you have only ever worked within one industry and have a lack of relevant industry experience.

Care must be sought when writing a CV that is too technically focused. You must be aware of your core competencies and be able to illustrate how they tie in your technical skills. It is completely normal for employees to change industries every few years and is also quite normal for employees to face a wall when attempting to write a relevant CV.

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Design and Format

This is a crucial area where your CV could triumph, but could also fail! Next time you read an article in your local newspaper, please take a moment to count just how long it takes before you decide that what you are reading is of absolutely no interest to you. Ask yourself; did you really give the article a chance? Did you even attempt to understand the meaning of the article? A similar thing very often occurs when a prospective employer reads your CV and can not instantly see any appeal. There is nothing worse than spending forever and a day working on the content of your CV only to have it cast aside within a matter of seconds.

Choosing the content of your CV is one of the most challenging areas to actually perfect. This is where professional assistance is very often of great benefit. Your CV must have the correct balance and appeal that is relevant to your target audience. Get this right and you are half way there!

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Style and Appeal

First impressions are everything. It takes seconds for an opinion to be forged on almost anything. This is very common across many aspects of everyday life and the same can be said for buying a car, meeting new people, watching the television or reading a holiday brochure, your CV is no different!

Take a moment to imagine that you are an employer. You have advertised for a role and have received 170 applications. How much time do you honestly think you can dedicate to each CV? Ten minutes? Five minutes? Five seconds? The truth is you will dedicate more than five seconds if the CV which you are reading has style and appeal. The design and format is the first stage to gaining extra attention, the content and appeal is the second!

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Ensure you are the best!

To obtain interviews and ultimately a job offer it is essential that you aim to be the best.

For example – Auto Promotions are advertising for a Business Development Manager. They place an advertisement on Seek and receive around 200 applicants for the position. The Sales Manager is recruiting for the role and due to heavy workload can only interview a maximum of 5 candidates.This is a typical situation in a candidate rich market and in some cases an employer may only want to interview 2 or 3 candidates.

If you do not aim to be the best you are more than likely going to miss out. To be the best will your CV have to be nicely formatted ensuring that you have a matching skill set? Not really! There will probably be around 30 or 40 applicants in the same boat as you are so you must be able to differentiate yourself from everyone else by adding value. Adding value is not as simple as adding a list of major achievements. You must demonstrate your key competencies and be able to illustrate how those competencies can add value to your future employers business.

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Letters

COVER LETTERS

A cover letter is an integral part of your job application process. If you write it well this can solidify your chances in landing the position, if you write poorly, this can ruin everything. It is important to present the best qualities that you have to offer whilst matching those qualities with what is required by the company to which you are applying. It is essential to present the correct information otherwise you may scare off your potential employer. Match your skills and attributes to what is required by the company and ask yourself the following questions?

Have I outlined how I will add value?
Have I been modest with regards to my successes, making sure the reader will be fully aware of my skills and abilities?
Have my key achievements reflected the demands of the position?
Am I able to cover the key points of my cover letter at interview?
Have I commented on my salary expectations? This may be relevant if your have been working in a different industry. If you are flexible you are best to say so!
Have I been confident with my wording?
Have I demonstrated that I believe in myself?
Have I double-checked my spelling and grammar?

RESIGNATION LETTERS

When you resign from your job this can be one of the hardest things to do. Most people wish they could just say goodbye and walk out, however the majority of employers require you to give four weeks notice and they also remember more about your performance in your final days that at any other time.

It is absolutely vital that you word this letter to perfection. If you word it correctly your notice period will be more comfortable and this will assist your chance of receiving an excellent reference from your manager if this is required for future employment. Who knows, one day you may return to the same company!

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