Common CV Writing Mistakes - CV Weaknesses

CV Writing Mistakes, CV Weaknesses and Common CV Mistakes. CV Help!

Recruiters review CVs on a daily basis, so enabling them to identify common CV weaknesses. There are many common CV mistakes, CV errors and CV formatting issues that serve only to undermine job applications. Winning CV has identified many of the most common resume writing mistakes. Making candidates aware of issues will help eliminate common CV weaknesses, thereby making a better CV.

CV Weaknesses: Common CV Mistakes made by candidates. Profiling typical CV errors that can easily be eliminated.

As professional CV writers, we notice many CV writing mistakes - many of which are very obvious and easy to rectify. Recruiters get frustrated when they see basic CV mistakes, all from what is essentially a lack of attention to detail. Spending a little more time and being more attentive to detail can greatly improve CVs. A CV is a personal marketing document, so anything less than perfect can fail to make the right impression and lead to a CV being rejected.

Basic mistakes often relate to spelling, grammar and sentence construction. A poor layout, untidy presentation and weak content are other factors undermining the appeal of CVs to recruiters. Through our professional CV writing services, we constantly see resume weaknesses, so we have compiled a comprehensive list of the 'Top CV Weaknesses'. Follow sound CV writing advice to eliminate common errors, so candidates can easily improve the quality of their CVs and have a greater chance of securing a job interview. Making a few adjustments can help enormously. 

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Not customising a CV to a specific job role

This is really important and is a very common area of weakness. The job description gives clues as to the skills, qualities and experience employers are looking for. Customising a CV to a target job role will increase chances as the candidate has taken time to match their CV to requirements of the job description. It gives a CV more credibility as the application is more relevant to what the recruiter is looking for. A poorly customised CV will show less relevance and fail to match up to the job requirements, so there is a greater chance of CV rejection. A poorly targeted CV really irritates recruiters, as it shows a lack of preparation and attention to detail as well as a candidate's poor ability to market themselves effectively.

Poor CV Presentation

Recruiters prefer a well-presented CV on two pages. Presentation works in two ways. Firstly, it is about making a good impression, professionalism and that the candidate has taken considerable time and effort in producing an effective personal marketing document. Secondly, presentation helps in terms of being able to find the information recruiters are looking for when taking a very short period of time (usually 30 seconds or so) to initially screen the candidate. Presentation is also aligned to layout, clear headings and the way a CV is structured. A poorly laid out and untidy CV will come across as less professional and will not create a favourable impression, especially if there are a number of good candidates competing for the same job.

Poor Spelling, grammar and sentence consrtruction

There are no excuses for poor spelling and grammar. Sentences should be well-constructed, make a point and add value. It is important to carefully check for any errors or omissions, as this can affect 'readability' and undermine the positive impression a CV needs to create. Very often we find conflicts between computer spell-checks for English and US-English. Always double-check spelling using a dictionary. Sloppy work shows a lack of attention to detail.

Work experience issues

As professional CV writers we commonly see canadidates failing to structure, present and sell their work experience effectively. Recruiters like to see work experience presented in a neat, logical and effective way. Job titles, company names and dates of employment must be clearly shown. Candidates also need to convey day-to-day responsibilities, evidence of progression and work achievements using positive language and buzz words. Most candidates undersell their potential by tending to focus on listing job tasks rather than talk about what they have achieved, how they have added value to a business and any wider impacts and successes.

Lacking a Skills and Personal Qualities Profile

Candidates often fail to tell employers what they are good at. At a simplistic level, a few skills and personal qualities maybe included within a CV, perhaps more by chance than carefully chosen. Including a skills and qualities profile tells a recruiter what a candidate is good at and how they apply these attributes in the work place (context). The aim is to highlight (sell) core strengths. It is also a good opportunity to customise skills and qualities to match those of the job specification.

Setting Unrealistic Career Objectives

Recruiters prefer assured, realistic and reasonably ambitious candidates. Over-ambition often deters employers from pre-selecting candidates for job interview because they see people having unrealistic goals. It not only comes across as arrogant, but also highlights poorly thought-out career plans and potential for over-exaggeration for the rest of the CV. At Winning CV, we see many graduate CVs containing unrealistic goals - director within 10 years - line manager within a year - doubling targets, etc. A degree of realism and a more humble approach is required because these goals are often not achieveable for most. This is especially true in a competitive job market. Like everyone else, graduates have to build up a track record over a number of years before being considered for these positions. Set realistic goals and show willing to learn and develop.

Overstating skills, experience & achievements - must have credibility

This really irritates recruiters. Candidates frequently overstate skills and exaggerate right through a CV. Trained recruiters can easily spot inconsistencies. Common examples are graduates claiming to 'experts' when in fact they have no or minimal experience and candidates claiming to have good written communication skills and attention to detail, only to be immediately followed by a spelling mistake. Claiming a good working knowledge is more appropriate than being an expert and be careful about what you say (claim). Achieving fantastic results, specialisation (expert skills) and outstanding achievements must be backed up with credible supporting evidence.

Failing to quantify achievements

Many candidates have particular strengths and achievements they are proud of and would want to include in a CV. Winning CV sees many candidates failing to even convey any real sense of achievement in their CVs. It is important to think about work experience and what candidates have done and excelled at in all areas of life. Then, it is necessary to define and elaborate on those strengths and achievements by placing them into a wider context and looking at what impacts or where a difference has been made. Finally, try to quantify each achievement by evaluating things like impacts on financial performance (i.e. cost savings, revenue increases, budgets), sales performance (i.e. sales figures, targets, converstion rates, new markets, margins), management responsibilities (line management, team performance) and delivering on key projects. As you can appreciate, this has far more impact for the recruiter, rather than merely listing job tasks!

Including too much personal information

As professional CV writers, we see candidates including unnecessary personal information.
It is necessary to check the relevance of personal information before including it. Assess whether things like nationality, age or marital status are relevant to job applications. Regardless, please ensure all personal information is accurate.

Omitting A Covering Letter

Covering letters are crucial in adding value to an application. It persuades recruiters to read-on by highlighting the main skills, qualities and experience contained in a CV, which are also most relevant to the role. Recruiters expect to receive a covering letter, so always include one.

Covering Letters Really Add Value

Recruiters expect to receive covering letters, though they are often not directed to the correct person, are far too long and not specific enough (lack direction or focus). As CV writers, we frequently see poorly written covering letters (i.e. poor grammar, punctuation, sentence structure and spelling) and not properly tailored to the job vacancy.

At Winning CV, we use a proven formula by customising the covering letter to the job description. It is important to state motivations for applying and convey how best a candidate matches the job requirements by summarising relevant work experience, core skills and key personal qualities as well as showing potential to learn and develop. We also employ a rule where the first paragraph must not be more than 4 or 5 lines, then two lines for each key attribute mentioned (in bullet point format). Finally, we include a closing line stating what a candidate is looking for (i.e. job interview, discussion) and positive intent in terms of the contribution or success the job seeker can make to a company. This gives a covering letter clear structure and makes it shorter and more focused.