{"id":32731,"date":"2020-12-23T18:33:17","date_gmt":"2020-12-23T18:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.joblife.co.za\/?p=32731"},"modified":"2020-12-23T19:47:08","modified_gmt":"2020-12-23T19:47:08","slug":"7-cv-mistakes-unprofessional-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joblife.co.za\/blog\/7-cv-mistakes-unprofessional-2\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Common CV Mistakes and How to Avoid Them."},"content":{"rendered":"

The stress of putting together a compelling CV<\/a> often stems from the fact that people are usually uncomfortable \u201cselling themselves\u201d. But, a well written and concise CV can catch attention, highlight your strengths and get you that job. Here are seven common job-seeking blunders to avoid as you piece together a CV<\/a> to wow your new employer. <\/p>\n

You add too much unnecessary detail<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Unless it\u2019s relevant to the job in some way, you don\u2019t need to mention your religion, how many children you have, your hobbies or your health status. Your CV should make your employer think you\u2019re exactly what they want – and extra bits and pieces can slow down reading and make them lose interest.<\/p>\n

Over-zealous styling<\/strong><\/h2>\n

You know that to find a job you need to stand out<\/a>. The way to do that, however, is not with coloured borders, fancy fonts or non-standard paper colours and sizes. Impress your employer with what\u2019s written on the CV, and skip things like crazy looking bullet points or photographs.<\/p>\n

You ramble<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A 60 year old Nobel prize winner may need a 3 page long CV. Everyone else can do with one or two pages. Your employer will be scanning very quickly over the page to find the most important details. Make him wade through walls of text and you risk losing his attention.<\/p>\n

The CV is riddled with spelling and grammar mistakes<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This should be a no-brainer, but you\u2019d be surprised how many little mistakes can slip through. Don\u2019t rely solely on your spell check. Get a friend to proofread, and, if you\u2019re applying for overseas positions, make sure your spelling and idioms are appropriate.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no cover letter<\/strong><\/h2>\n

For some, the only thing worse than writing a CV is writing a cover letter. But do it anyway. Your employer is busy and will appreciate that you\u2019re giving them a brief summary of your application right off the bat.<\/p>\n

You mention money<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There is no need to mention what your salary<\/a> at past positions was, and definitely no need to announce the salary you\u2019re looking for now. Save the financial negotiations for the interview stage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You grovel<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Employers can instinctively tell when an applicant is not sure of themselves – and it\u2019s very off putting. Avoid saying things like, \u201cI just thought I\u2019d try and see if maybe you could possibly give me the opportunity to\u2026\u201d or \u201cthank you so much for considering my application\u201d or \u201ceven though I\u2019m just starting out, I\u2019m a hard worker\u201d etc. An employer likely only needs to see whether you\u2019re a good fit for the position or not, and begging makes you look unconfident and unprofessional.<\/p>\n

Putting together a knock-out CV<\/a> is no easy feat. You need to summarize your entire working history, explain why you\u2019re incredibly hire-able and do it all in just a few short, sharp pages. But rest assured that if you keep your CV succinct and make sure to avoid the above common mistakes, you have a much better chance of letting your skills really shine through.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The stress of putting together a compelling CV often stems from the fact that people are usually uncomfortable \u201cselling themselves\u201d. But, a well written and concise CV can catch attention, highlight your strengths and get you that job. Here are seven common job-seeking blunders to avoid as you piece together a CV to wow your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":171935,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joblife.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32731"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joblife.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joblife.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joblife.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joblife.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32731"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.joblife.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":171938,"href":"https:\/\/www.joblife.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32731\/revisions\/171938"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joblife.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joblife.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joblife.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joblife.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}