This infographic highlights seven common CV mistakes you should steer clear of if you want to land a new job.
Is your CV due an update? In my experience, checking in on it every now and again is a good idea. Even if you’re not looking for a new role at the moment, keeping this information up to date can be useful in a number of ways.
Adding to your experience, skills and key projects with the relevant information means you’re keeping a working record of your own career progression, for example. This is something I recommend doing in further detail outside of your CV too, because it’s often easy to forget the work you get done in a week, let alone a year.
Having it all on paper means you can have details to refer to in performance reviews and promotion interviews. And it means you’ll be prepared if the job of your dreams suddenly pops up.
Top CV mistakes to avoid
So, whether you’re in the middle of a job hunt or not, it might be time to dig out your résumé and dust it down. To help you out, this infographic from ResumeLab has collected some tips about what to avoid on your CV. It is based on feedback from 100 professional résumé writers.
Three of the biggest CV ‘sins’, ResumeLab says, are failing to address keywords from the job ad, using an unprofessional email address to send your application, and having too many typos.
Keywords are particularly important, ResumeLab explains, because many big companies use applicant tracking software to filter CVs before they reach a human. It’s a fine balance, however, as overusing the ad’s keywords can be detrimental to your application further down the line.
In terms of email addresses, it’s important that you don’t use your current work email and that you avoid unprofessional or jokey addresses, such as ‘urmama@xyz.com’.
Other CV slip-ups include leaving out your LinkedIn profile and not highlighting your skills. You also may want to avoid including certain elements if you have more than five years of career experience, such as a list of hobbies or your school results.
Click to enlarge. Infographic: ResumeLab
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