CV Writing - Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Creating a CV is central to the search for a job, but is
something most of us hate doing. For some reason, this crucial
skill is not an obligatory part of the UK school or college
curriculum and very few young people are adept at presenting
themselves in the best possible light.
One of the biggest mistakes most people make, is sending out the
same CV for every application. It's a big temptation - you've
spent hours getting the details and layout just right, or
perhaps you've paid a considerable amount of money to have
someone write it professionally. The trouble is, each CV needs
to be tailored to the job in question, and it's vital that you
do this if you want to stand out from the crowd.
What does tailoring a CV mean? It simply means writing it
specifically for the post you are targeting. To do this you must
recognise the keywords the employer will be looking for and
relate them to your own experience. Keywords will be found in
the job description and person specification, or in the job
advertisement and on the company website. They describe the
skills, qualifications and experience needed for the post.
Keywords should stand out on your CV - don't forget that in the
first round of the selection process, CVs are usually only given
a 20 second glance. So if the interviewer doesn't see what he's
looking for, your CV is destined for the shredder.
Here's an example of targeting: let's say you are a secretary
who speaks several languages and can take shorthand in all of
them, but are applying for a job in an office where only English
and audio are used. Languages and shorthand, impressive as they
are, would not be the most prominent skills on your CV. Instead,
you would focus on the skills required, which might be fast
typing, advanced Excel or Powerpoint. Languages and shorthand
would be mentioned briefly, perhaps under the heading
"Additional Skills."
Another common mistake, usually made by older applicants, is
including their entire work and educational history. It's usual
for CVs to go back only 10 years in terms of work and if you
have a degree, school qualifications can be omitted, unless
specifically requested or relevant. Employers occasionally ask
for a full CV, in which case you do have to include everything.
Choosing the wrong format can also condemn your CV to the bin -
different styles work best in specific situations. Many people
stick to the chronological CV, but this is not always the most
appropriate. It works well if you have been steadily progressing
up the ladder in a particular career, or if your most recent
jobs are likely to impress the company you hope to work for.
A skills-based or functional CV is great if you have gaps in
your work history, as you can use it to highlight the fact that
you have exactly the skills the employer is looking for. It's
also useful if you are moving to a new career or area of work
and your work experience isn't completely relevant.
A targeted CV is aimed at a precise job or career, for example
if you retrained as a teacher in your 30s or 40s and were
applying for a teaching post, your work-related heading might be
"Teaching Experience" and your main skills would all be relevant
to teaching, for example using IT in the classroom and
curriculum development. For soft skills, such as communication
skills and team work, you would use examples from your teaching
career.
You may need to have different styles of CV for different
applications. If we use the previous example of the secretary,
she might have had a series of language related jobs and is now
applying for linguist and non linguist posts. She could choose a
chronological CV for the language jobs and a functional CV for
the others.
To sum up, individualise every CV for the job concerned, choose
the most suitable format for the situation and remember:
keywords must jump out at the reader in the first 20 seconds.