Common CV Mistakes - What not to do when writing a CV

It's easy to make mistakes when creating your own CV, we've all been there and done it at some point. A great way to avoid making mistakes is to make your own review process. This involves regularly reviewing your CV for spelling and grammar mistakes. Even better is to get a friend or family member to check your CV for you. It's much easier to spot mistakes when you haven't written it yourself.

Bear in mind that your CV needs to be brief and also informative. Striking a balance between the two is vital to keep the readers attention whilst still gaining an edge over other applicants. Many people fall into 'robot' mode and type so much text that their CV becomes over 4 pages long. This is of course too much. It probably doesn't look much to you but imagine having 100 of these on your desk to read whilst doing your daily job! That's a lot of reading. People are also great at skim reading, we've learnt to do that to cut time and pick out only the important parts from books, magazines etc.. Using bullet points helps to keep the amount of text on your CV to a minimum whilst still explaining key points that skim readers are likely to pick up.

Keeping previous experience short and sweet

Writing down all your previous schools right back to the age of 10 probably won't do you any favors. Keep note of only the most recent schools where you have picked up appropriate qualifications such as GCSE and A-Levels. Other information that can hinder a CV's presentation is personal details such as the year you were married, number of children, time in a particular country etc. All of these pad out your CV with wasted information that isn't important. However, keep in mind that when applying for jobs such as nannies or housekeepers this kind of information will probably benefit you because the employer is looking for a stable person possibly with their own children.