Five things recruiters don’t want to see on your CV

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If you’re currently on the search for a new job but don’t seem to be having much luck, there could be something on your CV which is putting potential employers off inviting you in for an interview.

So much time is focussed on the things we should be putting on our resume that we often forget to think about the things that might not be entirely appropriate. Below we have listed five things that recruiters don’t want to see on your CV.

Personal information

While recruiters are not allowed to judge candidates based on personal information, it’s human nature to do so and people often end up doing it without even realising. Refrain from adding details such as date of birth, sexual orientation, religion, political affiliation and photos and you completely eliminate the risk of being discriminated against.

Bad spelling and grammar

The only thing a recruiter can judge you on is your CV so it’s absolutely essential that you take the time to check for any spelling or grammatical errors. If there are lots of mistakes, a potential employer will worry that this will reflect the quality of your work and is therefore unlikely to invite you in for an interview.

Irrelevant work experience

Naturally, we want recruiters to know about all of our experience and we’ve all been guilty of adding our first jobs to our CV even though they have absolutely nothing to do with what we’re doing now.

Employers only have minutes, sometimes even seconds to glance through CVs so it’s crucial that you get to the point and capture their attention as quickly as possible. Your CV should show people that you match their requirements for the role and anything irrelevant to this should be cut out.

Negativity

Negativity is bad news for any CV because recruiters simply don’t want to see it. Resist the urge to bad-mouth previous employers and think about the language you’re using because research has shown that there are phrases which shouldn’t be used, even in a positive context. Try to avoid words such as awful, bad, fault, hate, mistake, nothing and problem.

92% of recruiters say that they would also reject a candidate who makes negative comments on social media so be aware of what you’re posting even on your personal pages.

Lies

It can be tempting to exaggerate certain aspects of your CV but avoid the temptation to go overboard because chances are that you will get found out if you get the job. According to the Society for Human Resources Management, a whopping 96% of companies conduct some form of background check on their employees so unless you want to find yourself unexpectedly out of a job, it simply isn’t worth taking the risk.

If you would like help with your CV or finding your next finance job, please feel free to contact Choralis Consulting and we will be more than happy to help. Alternatively, head over to our vacancies page and you can apply to our roles directly.