Common CV mistakes and how to fix them

Mistakes in content

1. One CV for every job

When you write a general CV that leans toward no particular role, the reader has to work out what fits their job, and often will not. The fix: keep a master copy and adapt a version for each type of role by changing the title, the summary and the order of skills.

2. Listing duties instead of achievements

A phrase like "responsible for sales" describes the chair, not the person. The fix: write what you did and what came of it. If you have no numbers, describe the scale or the improvement precisely, and never invent a figure.

3. A summary full of stock phrases

"Hardworking, ambitious, works well under pressure" fits anyone, so it says nothing. The fix: state your field, your years of experience, two or three tools you are strong in and your best result.

4. Skills the experience does not support

A long list of skills with no trace in your experience invites doubt. The fix: keep the skills you could give an example of in an interview, and delete the rest.

Mistakes in form

5. Too long

A four-page CV from someone with short experience wears the reader out. The fix: one page for under five years of experience, two pages at most otherwise, and squeeze older jobs into a line or two.

6. A crowded or inconsistent layout

Many fonts, many colours, uneven sizes and alignment that changes from section to section. The fix: one or two fonts, at most one colour for headings, fixed spacing and one alignment.

7. Ready-made templates with columns and rating bars

Some templates show skills as percentage bars or stars and split the page into complicated columns. The bars mean little to a reader (what does 70% in English mean?), and some elaborate layouts are harder for software to read or for a printer to reproduce well. The fix: name the level in a clear word and choose a simple layout of one column or two clear ones.

8. The wrong file type or name

A file called "cv final 3 new.docx", or a screenshot. The fix: a text PDF (you can select the text in it) with a clear name such as "Your name - CV".

Mistakes in the details

9. Typos and literally translated phrases

One error in an employer’s name or in your own email can cost you. In translated CVs, odd phrases appear from translating word for word. The fix: read the CV aloud, ask someone else to check it, and if you write in two languages, write each version in the style of its own language rather than as a literal copy of the other.

10. Missing or unsuitable contact details

An informal-looking email, a number you do not answer, or a profile link you have not touched in years. The fix: a simple email in your name, a number you actually answer, and links that work and represent you.

Personal details: options, not rules

Many people hesitate over a photo, marital status, date of birth and address. There is no single rule for everyone: some employers ask for some of these and others do not care, and the decision is yours. Include what serves your professional assessment, and if an employer’s form asks for a detail, give it there. The point is not to let these details crowd out your experience.

How to review your own CV

1. The ten-second test: give it to someone for ten seconds, then ask: what is my field, and what is the best thing I have done? If they cannot say, the top of the page needs rewriting.
2. Print it, or view it on a phone screen. Whatever does not read clearly there needs simplifying.
3. Match it against the job advert: put the advert beside your CV and check that the most important requirements appear, in wording close to the advert’s, where you truly have them.
4. Read it aloud: it exposes repetition, heavy phrasing and mistakes the eye skips.
5. A reader from your field: a friend or colleague who knows what is valued there will see what you cannot.

After editing, keep a dated master copy. When your experience changes months later, you update one version instead of hunting for the latest file among ten.