Don't make these common CV mistakes

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Are you thinking of a change in job?

Here are eight common mistakes to avoid making in your CV.

Recent findings from a UK-based survey have found there is a divide between what employers look for in a CV and what jobs seekers see as important.

According to the survey consisting of 2,000 members of the public and 480 job recruiters, conducted by Mortar London for recruitment firm Michael Page, there are eight common mistakes typically made in a CV.

One of the biggest mistake outlined by more than half of the surveyed recruiters was failing to list all roles held within a single company, as was failing to put an emphasis on detailing achievements.

The findings revealed 50 per cent of the members of the public overestimated the importance of keeping a CV under 2 pages, having volunteering experience, adding 'soft skills' and listing personal interests, which were ranked unimportant to recruiters.

Twenty per cent of the 480 recruiters surveyed ranked using industry-related terms second in the list of importance, followed by detailing achievements, not having typos and grammatical errors, and using correct formatting and font.

Writing in a professional tone, detailing professional responsibilities and using job ad keywords were ranked as least important to recruiters.

Here are the top eight things to avoid in your CV:

1. Not putting your current role at the top of your CV.
2. Putting personal interests in your CV.
3. Not putting a link to your blog, Twitter or LinkedIn account.
4. Failure to namedrop top companies, brands and people.
5. A lack of keywords showing your skills.
6. Using MS Word templates.
7. Not including a cover letter - or a bad one.
8. Mixing personal pronouns.

Top things important to recruiters:

• Listing all job titles within same company.
• Using industry terms.
• Detailing all achievements.
• Not having typos.
• Not having grammatical errors.
• Correct formatting and font.
• Detailing your responsibilities.
• Using job ad keywords.