Top 5 CV Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

The 5 Most Common CV Mistakes (And How to Fix Them)

As professional CV writers, we see an array of CVs from graduates through to C-suite that, despite candidates’ best intentions, miss the mark with UK recruiters. Writing an informative and concise CV that is formatted well and key word optimised is a tricky task and one that many (understandably) underestimate. Never fear, we've outlined the most common issues below, along with our suggestions on how to fix them.

1. Describing Duties Instead of Detailing Achievements

Across the board, this is by far the most common mistake made by candidates. The CV reads more as a job description telling the recruiter what they were supposed to do instead of what they actually accomplished. Many experienced recruiters will already be able to work out the basics of what you do from your job title, so tell them something new. For example:

Describing Duties:

• Responsible for customer service
• Managed a team of 5
• Handled sales enquiries
• Maintained stock levels

Detailing Achievements:

• Increased customer satisfaction from 82% to 94% on feedback surveys within 6 months
• Led a team of 5 that consistently exceeded KPIs by 10%
• Converted 28% of inbound enquiries into sales, above the company average of 21%
• Completed periodic stock takes and reduced the amount of excess stock held by 17%

Providing recruiters with measurable achievements adds valuable context and clearly demonstrates what you bring to a role. In a fiercely competitive UK job market, this could help differentiate you from candidates with similar experience or qualifications and secure you a sort after interview.

2. Not Key Word Optimising Your CV to the Job Specification

Optimising a CV with key words from a job or person specification for every job that you apply to can seem like a lot. However, it is quality over quantity that counts when searching for a job - submitting a tailored, key word optimised CV to 20 jobs is often far more effective than sending the same generic CV to 100 jobs.

On average, recruiters spend only 10-30 seconds skim reading each CV. If the key words, skills and experience are not immediately evident, they will quickly move on to the next candidates CV. Add to this the increasing use of Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) that actively scans CVs for key word content before a human recruiter even lays eyes on it, and the importance of key word optimisation becomes clear.

For example, candidates can accidently omit industry-specific software, qualifications or terminology used in the advert, which will often result in their CV being discarded. When applying for a project coordinator role, a candidate may highlight customer service or administration experience first as opposed to more relevant experience such as creating project roadmaps, budgeting and workload allocation.

Most recruiters tell you exactly what they are looking for, so it is worth taking the time to optimise.

For more information, read our article on how to effectively optimise your CV with key words.

3. Poor Formatting

No matter how relevant a candidate’s experience may be, if it is hard to read, it won’t be! Some roles receive dozens of applications, so recruiters do not have time to try and decipher poorly formatted CVs, and ATS systems can miss key words due to icons, images or unfavourable placement of information.

As CV writers, some of the most frequent formatting issues we see are:

• Huge paragraphs – CVs are designed to provide recruiters with an overview of your experience and achievements and do not require inclusion of every detail. Important details run the risk of being missed if they are buried in too much content.
• Tiny font – In an effort to contain their CV within 2 pages, some candidates minimise the font. However, this makes it unnecessarily difficult for recruiters to read. Ideally, the main content of a CV is 10pt with section headings being either 12 or 14pt.
• Too many colours or icons – Some candidates, especially those within creative industries, like to have eye catching CVs that incorporate multiple colours, icons and section dividers. Whilst these CVs may look good, they are difficult for ATS systems to read and often waste valuable space that could be used to detail key achievements.
• More than 2 pages – Recruiters have their own targets to consider, so are unlikely to spend time looking through page after page on a single CV. If it is too long, they will often sift it out.

A well formatted UK CV typically has:

• Clear headings – Short and to the point headings are ideal for both human recruiters and ATS. When combined with a larger font size (12pt or 14pt), they allow for quick identification of sections where key words, experience or qualifications are contained.
• Bullet points – These are a great tool for highlighting valuable experience and achievements and allow recruiters to quickly scan through the content.
• Plenty of white space – It is important to use the space wisely, so whilst candidates need to ensure key content is captured, it is also vital to include plenty of white space for a recruiter’s eyes to rest. An overcrowed CV may result in it being sifted out due to required experience or qualifications not being easy to identify.
• Around 2 pages – For the majority of CVs, 2 pages provides ample space to include the relevant experience and qualifications. For some, such as graduates, school leavers or retirees, 1 page will be more suitable and for others, such as highly experienced professionals or industry leaders, 3 pages will be needed.

4. Weak Opening Profile

The opening profile of a CV is often one of the hardest sections to ‘get right’ and as professional CV writers, we have seen a wide range of styles over the years. Some are more akin to a short autobiography whilst others are almost non-existent. For most CVs, an optimised profile should be roughly 100 words and answer 3 key questions, as recruiters are looking to quickly ‘pigeonhole’ candidates:

• Who are you?
• What do you do?
• What level do you work at?

Opening profiles are also a great opportunity to show a little bit of personality and demonstrate alignment with the target company’s values or mission statement. Recruiters are looking for a culture fit as well as experience and qualifications, so adding first person narrative and a personal touch can help candidates to appear as ‘real people’ and not simply words on a page.

5. Missing Evidence and Measurable Impact

Recruiters like measurable evidence as these provide clear examples of a candidate’s work ethic and what they bring to their roles. Wherever possible, include measurables such as:

• Revenue – Has there been an increase as a result of your contribution, either directly or in a supportive capacity?
• Cost savings – Were you able to identify areas of cost savings and how much did you save?
• Time savings – Did you streamline any processes and what impact did this have on working time?
• Team size – How many direct and indirect reports did you have? Were they based at one site or across many?
• Budgets – Did you have full budget oversite or assist with budget oversite and what size was the budget?
• Customer satisfaction – Has feedback improved as a result of your efforts and by how much?
• Productivity improvements – Did you implement any new systems, documents or processes that increased your team’s productivity? How was this measured?
• Projects delivered – How many projects did you deliver, within what time frames (days, months, years, etc.) and did you work with any notable clients?
• KPIs achieved – Did you consistently meet or exceed individual and team targets? How much did team KPIs improve by as a result of your input?
• Student exam results – Has the number of students receiving pass grades increased or were more students able to achieve grades higher than expected as a result of your effort?

It can also be useful to include any awards received either individually or as part of a team, as these can aid in further demonstrating a candidate’s work ethic and culture fit. Even approximate figures can be useful as long as they are honest and as accurate as possible.

Bonus UK CV Mistakes

There are also other more minor mistakes that are worth mentioning. They are not immediate dealbreakers, however, they can weaken a CV or are simply not needed:

• Including a photo – Whilst this is a requirement is some countries it is generally not expected in the UK. If candidates want to have a professional picture of themselves available, LinkedIn provides an excellent opportunity for this. Do be sure to use a suitably professional option though!
• Listing age, date of birth or marital status – Once the norm, this is no longer common practice owing to the Equality Act 2010. However, where this information is an essential component of the job, such as certain public safety roles, acting, modelling or providing age-restricted services, companies should either request this information elsewhere in the application process or detail the requirements in the job specification.
• Providing your full address – Simply providing your general location is sufficient, for example Cambridge. However, as more roles are becoming hybrid or completely remote, location is becoming less relevant. By applying, candidates are already demonstrating proximity or a willingness to travel. In addition, providing a full address along with personal details can be a security risk!
• Using an unprofessional email address – A candidate might tick all the boxes, however, if they are using groovy_chick11@emailaddress.com or geezer_john@emailaddress.co.uk for example, it may cause the recruiter to have questions about their suitability. An easy win is to set up a new email with your name, such as jane_smith123 or j.smith789.
• Generic or outdated skills as headlines – Whilst it is important to provide an overview of skills, it is also important to locate them correctly. For example, use of Microsoft Office applications can be contained within an ‘IT Skills’ section towards the end of a CV. However, if the job specification specifically mentions an application, this can be included where naturally possible in a candidate’s experience.
• Unexplained employment gaps – Recruiters are not entitled to know or ask why a candidate left a role and it is up to the candidate to decide whether they wish to share this information or not. However, if there is an employment gap of more than 3 months it is useful to provide some basic details such as ‘planned career break’, ‘travel’ or ‘looking for work’ along with the relevant dates.
• Spelling and grammar mistakes – It may seem like an obvious one, yet we see it on CVs of all levels. Not checking for spelling or grammar mistakes (especially with tools and apps so widely available now) may cause a recruiter to think that you do not pay attention to detail or that you are simply not bothered enough to check… neither of which will help you to secure an interview. If these are not strong points, perhaps ask a friend or family member to proofread the CV before submitting it.
• American English – Unless you are applying for a role in America, it is best practice to use British English and not American English, i.e. Organisation, not organization and programme, not program.
• Keep perspective – Target the language of the CV to the level you are at. Graduate and entry level CVs should have a different tone to C-suite and management roles, and it can sometimes be off putting if lower-level CVs try to over emphasise or inflate a candidates contributions.

So, What do Recruiters Look for in a Strong UK CV?

A recruiter’s time is valuable, so it is important that a CV answers these questions about a candidate quickly:

1. What role are they applying for?
2. Do they have relevant experience?
3. Have they produced measurable results?
4. Do they have the required skills and qualifications?
5. Should I interview them?

If the answer to all 5 is “yes”, then the CV has done its job!

Not sure if your CV is hitting the mark? A professional review could be the difference between being overlooked and being invited in for interview.

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