Common CV Writing Mistakes That You Keep Making

CV Writing mistakes you are making and how to avoid them.

A CV is the ultimate document that sells you to the employer or recruiting firm when they are shortlisting candidates for open positions. It is what gets you to the interview stage, and for this reason it has to be professional enough to meet the employer’s standards.

What does this mean? If a recruiter skims through your CV in under 30 seconds and for one reason or the other is not impressed, you will not be getting any calls to an interview. This means your CV should be free of mistakes, which are the major reason job seekers are not getting jobs today.

What are some of these common CV writing mistakes?

Florence Mukunya, a CV Writing expert at Corporate Staffing Services is not short of mistakes that she comes across when reviewing candidates’ CVs. Common mistakes that will put off employers include;

1. Poor CV formatting and design

 If you were applying to a job that requires organizational skills such as Administration and your CV has mixed up fonts or colours, chances are the employer or recruiter will not be intrigued to read on.

“The format is just as important as anything else on the CV,” says Florence. “The key is to format the information in a way that makes it easy to scan and recognize your job goals and relevant qualifications.”

2. Not including Duties & Responsibilities or Highlighting Achievements

Because you worked in a similar position as the one in the job advertisement does not translate to you being qualified for a job. Recruiters want to see some of the responsibilities you were tasked with and use that to evaluate if you match the job at hand.

Also including achievements for every position you’ve held in the CV is important to the employer and will put you at a better advantage over other applicants. Leaving this out may discredit you, so learn how to do it.

3. Being vague in your CV

One of the first things a recruiter sees is your career objective or summary and if you are too general or too vague here, you may confuse the employer or make them judge you too soon. Sometimes you find the way a candidate has outlined their skills or responsibilities does not communicate their expertise clearly.

Other mistakes that put off the employer are spelling mistakes, copying the job description of an advertised job or even leaving out contact details.

Florence says that job seekers must be more concerned about what information they include and how they outline it in the CV as employers receive numerous applications and do not have time to look a bad CV.

So, how can you avoid making these CV writing mistakes?

One of the most effective ways is to get your CV professionally done. Corporate Staffing Services offers CV writing services for candidates who are having a hard time drafting marketable CVs, those applying to jobs but not getting called to interviews and candidates looking to change jobs and don’t know how to restructure their CVs to fit the job market.

Do you belong to one of these categories? If you do, know that employers are becoming choosy in their selection process and a professional CV may be what you need to get that job. We can help you achieve that! And as an added service you get a free career book on “Modern Day Job Search: A guide to successful job search in Kenya” if you visit our offices to get a professional CV.

Our offices are located on 4th Floor Mayfair Suites along Parklands Road, Westlands, next to M.P Shah hospital and  doors are open to clients from 8.30am to 5.30pm Monday through to Friday and from 9.00am to 1.00pm on Saturdays.

You can contact Florence or Melody at either cvwriting@corporatestaffing.co.ke or melody@corporatestaffing.co.ke.