CV Tips: How To Write a Professional CV
When it comes to job hunting, your CV is the best marketing tool you have available. Our CV Tips series will help you write a CV that stands out and gets you noticed by avoiding common CV mistakes.
Have you checked out our Free CV Templates? Ok, great. You're now ready to get started with eliminating the most common CV mistakes we spot time and time again on CVs.
Crafting the perfect job application takes time, so the last thing you want is for your CV to be rejected at the first hurdle by including several CV mistakes that could be easily avoided. You need a professional CV to make a strong first impression as it will act as your ticket to interviews and job offers. It sometimes only takes one mistake for a recruiter or hiring manager to start doubting your credibility.
Below are the most common mistakes recruiters see on CVs and how to fix them.
1) Contact Information
When you're writing a CV, it's essential that you include your contact information at the very top of your CV. You need to make it as easy as possible for recruiters or hiring managers to contact you after you've taken the time to submit your CV or complete an application. If they need to go looking for your contact information, there's a risk that they may move onto someone else so be sure to include your email address and contact number (with country code) at the top of your CV.
2) Work Permit Status
Have you added your name and contact information to the top of your CV? Great!
If you're an international applicant, the next step you need to take is adding your work permit status to the top of your CV. One of the first questions the hiring manager is going to have about you is whether or not you have the legal right to work in Ireland. If you make this information easily accessible, you will be able to ease their concerns straight away and encourage them to check out the rest of your CV.
3) Avoid Pronouns
You put your name at the top of your CV so it is implied that everything on your CV is about you, so there is only a need to include other people (e.g. managers, team members, external contractors) where appropriate. The secret to great CV writing is removing the use of pronouns entirely; so avoid using 'I', 'she', 'he' because its use is implied. You can instead use this space to highlight your skills and experience.
4) Get the dates right
Make sure you've got your dates of employment right on your CV. This is one of the first things that recruiters and hiring managers will look at to determine your level of seniority in each role. If your experience is quite short but spanning two calendar years, make sure to include the month you started and the month you finished that job (e.g. May 2019 to March 2020).
5) Remove buzzwords
Do you describe yourself as self-motivated, creative, enthusiastic and other such buzzwords on your CV? If so, you are not alone, but you should consider removing them from your CV as they mean very little without examples and results to demonstrate your expertise. You need to use the space on your CV wisely to highlight why you're the best candidate for the job. If you're padding it out with buzzwords that have no context to your past work experience and the role you're applying for next, chances are recruiters will ignore your CV altogether.
It's no secret that the jobs market is now more competitive than ever. If you want to get noticed, you need to grab the attention of the person reading your CV. And if you're using the same words as everyone else, chances are you won't be successful in your job search.
