Here we revisit the ever popular topic of what makes a good CV, with a (sometimes light-hearted) look at the most common faults – at least as we see it!
1. No contact details on the CV – you would be surprised how many CVs we see that do not have this most basic of information. Mobile phone and e-mail are the key contact channels, so make sure these details are clear at the top of the document.
2. All your exam results back to O levels – this looks very geeky if you have a first degree and more so if you studied to postgraduate level and/or have a professional qualification. It’s the top two levels of qualification that we are interested in; prune the rest out.
3. Adding on to an old CV without editing it – a recruiter’s nightmare, usually a six page CV with as much detail on the job fifteen years ago as the current one. Worst of all is when we ‘can see the join’ where sections produced at different times still have their own different type sizes and fonts!
4. Inappropriate photograph – we are not really fans of photos on CVs; we’re interested in what you have achieved, not how you look. Put another way, if your experience doesn’t stack up against the candidate spec, we’re not going to change our mind and invite you in on the basis of your looks! Top marks for inappropriate pictures include such gems as the keen golfer who attached a photo to his CV with the caption ‘that’s me third from the right on the 18th green…!’
5. Too much information – two or possibly three pages should be plenty enough to get your key messages across. Very few CV reviewers have the interest to read past the third page. However it can be nearly as bad if the information that would fit comfortably on six pages is crammed into two! Very ‘busy’ pages and densely typed information are tough on the eyes – and therefore tend to get ignored. Remember, the CV is your brochure, it’s not the whole catalogue.
6. Gimmicks as an attempt to differentiate yourself – there is a popular misconception that ‘it is important to make your CV stand out’ and that something different will attract attention. Well it may, but only for the wrong reasons. In the days of hard copy CVs through the post it used to be luridly coloured paper and exotic binders. Now it’s fancy graphics, animated text effects and logo mania. We are not impressed, with one exception – if we are handling a job where such creativity is the core of the task.
7. Keeping all the employers’ company names out of it – candidates do this out of some notion that it protects their confidentiality. It does, but it also makes the CV more or less worthless. Executive recruiters with any kind of ethics know how to treat applications in confidence. If you are worried that one won’t, perhaps you shouldn’t entrust them with your CV and career move?
8. Including cheesy appeals to the recruiter’s emotions - statements such as ‘I may not have the expertise that you are looking for on paper, but when you meet me, you will know I’m the right person for the job’ don’t get you very far. This is executive recruitment, not the X Factor!
9. Unrealistically long lists of interests outside work - two potential pitfalls with this. One, if you truly do indulge in so many outside interests, how come you can meet the demands of an important job? Two, if you don’t really participate in these interests, you may just end up being interviewed by the UK’s leading exponent of the hobby you have listed. You have been warned!
10. Unnecessary and sentimental information about your personal circumstances - eg happily married to Dawn for twenty one years, with two adorable children, Bravo aged 12 and Sunset aged 5. This is really of no interest to us or our clients and just makes very uncomfortable reading in what should be a business-focused document.
Advice about what constitutes a good CV is available on our website at http://www.spindler.co.uk/advice.php along with other useful information for job hunters.
