20 Reasons Your CV Is Letting You Down (Part 1)
By Ruoro Kairu
Over the weekend, I attended a social event. At one point, Nancy, a friend shared her story about how she has been applying for jobs for six months without any success.
Her frustration was the lack of response from recruiters upon submission of her CV. She was sure she had the right skills, and she had previously been coached on how to ace an interview. The only problem, she was not being called in for any interviews.
After listening to her for half an hour, I requested her to share her CV with me so I could have a look and see if it was the issue. She shared it on the same day. I was shocked to see despite her qualifications and achievements, she did not know how to clearly portray this on the CV.
Are you a job seeker out there, applying for jobs left right and center, day in, day out? Yet, you are not getting any feedback from employers and recruiters?
Here are mistakes I picked up from Nancy’s CV that will definitely lock you out of a job.
1. Improper email address
When you send in your application through email, your address and name are the first things a recruiter will see.
How professional is your email address? If it is something funny or unethical, the recruiter might not even get to open your CV.
Opening a new email address takes less than five minutes, but its implications on the name you use could help or ruin your chances of being called in for an interview.
A professional email should ideally consist of your name and nothing more. If you have a common name, chances are, the first few suggestions might already be taken. However, remember there are myriad avenues you can open an address from Google, Yahoo, and Hotmail are just some of the free and popular platforms.
Try as much to exclude numbers from your email address –yes, even when it’s a suggestion from Google.
Quick read>>> How To Answer The “Tell us about your greatest achievement” Question.
2. Placing a photo on your CV
How you perceive another person could be based on something as easy as how they dress, talk or even act.
In psychology, there’s a term known as cognitive bias. Simply put, it is wrong thinking of another person. The basis for this wrong thinking is the information provided at a given time. Almost always, cognitive bias is unconscious, meaning someone doesn’t know when it’s happening.
Placing a photo of yourself could lead the recruiter to judge you on your appearance and not the contents of your CV.
Do not include your photo in your CV. Let the recruiter judge you by your experience and skills. However, if the recruiter directly asks for it, you can include the photo. Some jobs as well, such as modeling and acting, do require a photo as part of the application.
Also Read>>> 3 Fears Keeping You From Advancing In Your Career.
3. Long uninteresting paragraphs
Nothing is as appalling to a recruiter as a long paragraph. With long paragraphs, you have to spend time looking through each sentence to see what the job seeker is trying to communicate.
If the recruiter has hundreds of applications, they will not spend time reading through each word you’ve written.
Break up your paragraphs into small segments, give a heading to each, and employ the use of numbers and bullets.
According to Ms. Prisca Kimaiyo, one of the recruiters here at Corporate Staffing Services, most recruiters will spend less than ten seconds scanning through the CV.
You are deemed worthy or not in ten seconds or less!
To have your CV pass the ten-second test, you need to apply these, and other tactics. Avoid these mistakes and you’ll start receiving feedback to attend interviews.
Afraid your CV is letting you down? Worried it’s not professional enough? Why don’t you give us a call on 0722 735 216 for a free review? Alternatively, you can visit our offices with a hard copy of your CV for a comprehensive free review.
For CV related query, email Brenda, a professional CV writer on brenda@corporatestaffing.co.ke.