Careless CVs mean many jobseekers are missing out

4:41pm Monday 28th April 2008

UK jobseekers are missing out on their dream job because of easily avoided CV blunders.

Research has shown badly presented and poorly written CVs are more of a turn-off to almost three quarters (73 per cent) of employers than a candidate showing up late, wearing inappropriate clothes or even swearing in an interview. This is according to a poll of employers conducted by the UK's leading recruitment website, fish4jobs.co.uk based on an analysis of thousands of CVs in its archive.

The most irritating mistakes for employers, were in many cases, the most easily avoided. These include misspelling key details such as the employer's (and even the candidate's) name or job title (reported by 67 per cent of recruiters), grammatical errors (89 per cent) and including irrelevant information (65 per cent). An additional 63 per cent reported seeing inappropriate personal email addresses.

Just one misplaced letter can make a huge difference to a candidate's career prospects. fish4jobs has identified some of the most common errors CVs are likely to contain:

* Candidates claiming to have "worked in a busty office"

* People looking for "a job as a manger"

* Jobseekers after a position in "pubic relations" Candidates are also likely to shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to qualifications and skills: * Candidates often claim to be "a good leeder"

* Many have been trained in "fist aid" rather than first aid. And it seems they still needed to practice their spelling skills even though: * Candidates "attended collage"

* Or went to "a very good skool".

To help save more CVs from being binned because of silly slip-ups, the following guide highlights the top five tips to avoid the potential pitfalls for jobseekers.

TOP TIPS FOR CV PERFECTION

* Typos - print the document out and proofread it slowly - and remember: running a spell check will not pick up mistakes such as "I worked as a manger". Reading it out loud also helps

* Inappropriate e-mail addresses - what may have seemed a funny or inventive e-mail address when you thought it up will probably look unprofessional to a prospective employer. Do not fall into the same trap - go to Hotmail or GoogleMail and set up a new, free email account

* Inappropriate interests or descriptions - no employer is interested in knowing your friends describe you as gobby or your interests include going to the pub and gossiping - if in doubt about its relevance - leave it out

* Hard to read - garish colours, messy layout, too long - will go straight in the bin. For the CV to stand out, keep it brief, stick to facts and put the qualifications and experience you are proud of nearest the top

* Do not fall at the last hurdle - it is easy to miss mistakes when the same text has been read several times. Get a friend to look at it carefully with a fresh pair of eyes, and ask them for honest feedback.

Editor's Choice