Oct
8
It still amazes me the number of recruitment consultants Cvs I see with basic mistakes on them, mistakes which may ultimately cost them the next step in their career. Here are some examples of mistakes to avoid.
Simple spelling errors. There really are no excuses anymore. Computers put an unmissable red line under spelling errors. I know it can be confusing with keyboards set to American spelling. Even given this, given the importance to furthering your career, it doesn’t take much to get a couple of people to proof read it for you. To the recruitment consultant on the receiving end (who by the way will also see the same red line you did!) it really does look like you just couldn’t be bothered, not really a winning impression.
Using Block capitals throughout. For some reason some people think the text on a CV will stand out better if it’s in block capitals. Recruitment consultants of all folk should recognise that the masses just don’t do this for a reason. Books don’t do it, nor do magazines, and schools don’t teach, so I’m really not sure where it comes from, but some do it? In short, text done completely in block capitals is very difficult to read. Try printing off a document, one copy normally, and the other in block capitals and you’ll see what I mean. My guess is that most recruitment consultants won’t get past the first line fo a CV in block capitals, so don’t do it!
Cvs that are too long winded. In the UK, I would say a Cv should be 2 to 3 pages long. Cvs much longer than this and most recruitment consultants would consider them too long, you run the risk of them not reading them all. The reason for these is normally people going into too much detail about older jobs. By all means give detail for your last job or two, but beyond this and it becomes too much, keep details here to a top line about what you did and how good you were.
Cvs that are too short. I still see a lot of one page Cvs. I’m sure the origin of this is the USA where the one page resume is the norm, but over here it’s just not considered enough detail to get you an interview. As above, you should aim for 2 to 3 pages and include all details of employment since you left school. If you have done more than two jobs, include all the others but just a brief line about what you did and what you achieved.
Listing CV contents in the wrong order. It is true what they say that recruitment consultants will read a CV for 10 seconds to decide whether to give them another minute. If the first things they come across are neutral and not relevant to differentiating you from your competition you may loose out before you even got started. So, your address, marital status, age, number and names of children, hobbies and interests and so on, may be both personal and important to you, but they are unlikely to win over a recruitment consultant. Ensure you open up with stuff that is relevant and impactful. Your most recent employment and your success would be a good place to start.
I could write for pages and pages but these are some of the most obvious ones seen by people applying to recruitment consultants roles, people who should know better. Take these on board and you will give yourself a much better chance of moving your career to that next level.
John Bult rnus an internet jobs board for recruitment consultants in the UK
Article Source: Basic mistakes recruitment consultants make with their own Cvs