Bien Magazine brings you new personal development tips on this important subject. While there is plenty of information online on how to write a good CV and what mistakes cannot be made, people who are looking for work still sadly bring terribly written documents to their interviews. This can be perceived by the employer in the wrong way - "This person applying to work for me is not trying very hard and seems careless, so I do not want to have such an employee." More serious mistakes can even be offensive to potential employers. So - it is worthwhile to look at your CV carefully, leave them alone, once written, for a day or two to look at them again in a critical way.
Here are just the most common errors that often disqualify job seekers. The list of errors people make while sending out their CVs is, unfortunately, very, very long.
Missspelling and language errors
If you are applying for a job with a company that has something to do with the written word, you must not make any spelling mistakes in your CV. Formatting must be perfect and the text divided into paragraphs. It has to be perfect in form and content. Use Arial, Tahoma, Calibri or Verdana fonts. They create the impression of professionalism and they are very readable.
If you make a mistake in the name of the company you want to work for, you can either say goodbye to the job opportunity or do not count on a nice first conversation. At the end of the day, you would not be impressed if someone got your name wrong.
Unnecessary information
The ideal CV contains only information that can be useful to the future employer. So look at it from their perspective. Who do they need? Who are they looking for? What can you offer them?
People, unfortunately, tend to write everything they know how to do, or what they did in the past. If you were looking for a carpenter, would it be important for you to know that the applicant is a hobbistic embroider? Hence - be careful what you write. Remove all unnecessary information from your CV, such as marital status or nationality, if this is not important for the job you are applying for. The maiden name is sure to be of no use to anyone. Away with it. The number of children or all of the previous addresses do not matter.
Do not amuse the employer
This is one of the horrors of every employer. Idiotic CVs or emails that have - in the concept of the sender - create a pleasant atmosphere or amuse the employer. Do not let that happen to you, do not send a CV from a "kitten @ kitten" or use a nickname in your signature. Do not laugh, these things happen!
Do not send creative, bizarre or original - in your opinion – CVs. They may not suit your future employer’s taste. Be neutral, later there will be time to show all your talents.
An email without a header or content
And finally, what can make your absolutely perfect CV go straight to the trash folder, not even opened and read. Unfortunately, many will send a CV via email (because the employer wishes so), which does not have a header. This is a clear sign for the recipient, saying "I do not really care". A blank email, containing just an attachment is absolutely unacceptable. It is a sign of complete disregard for the recipient of your message. Stupidly because of such trivial mistakes, do not expect the CV to be read.
Author: Bien Magazine
Photos: DepositPhotos
