What does your UK CV really say about you?

Your Photo

• Immediately shows that you haven’t done your research around UK CVs because there shouldn’t be a photo in the first place. Whoops!

You didn't include a professional profile summary

• Says that you haven’t used this space to personalise your CV and provide some context to your individual situation. It was all just too much of an effort, right?

Your Name isn’t the same as on your linkedIn profile and/or isn’t capitalised

• Says that you have opted to confuse employers and recruiters and don’t think you're important enough to capitalise your own name. This I find rather sad.  :(

Your email address is your nickname, date of birth, or the name of your favourite band/ food/cartoon character..

• Says that you don’t take yourself very seriously and don’t care whether potential employers do either.

You have some spelling mistakes and grammar errors

• Says that although you claim that one of your skills is ‘attention to detail’ - you haven’t exactly demonstrated it very well.

You have lots of text and a 2+ page long CV

• Says that you thought it was better to give the reader the opportunity to know your whole life story (and assumed they have the time to read your life story) because ultimately this was an easier and less time consuming option for you when the alternative was to be rigorous and tailor the skills to match the key ones listed in the job ad.

Your work experience section has bullet points that list ALL the things you did in each of your previous roles.

·     Served customers

·     Worked in a team and independently

·     Took bookings over the phone and through email

·     Worked in a fast paced environment

·     Showed good organisational and time management skills

• Says that you haven’t taken the time to reflect on what impact you made and what valuable contribution you made as an employee when applying your skills and learning new ones.

There are many more examples from where those came from. I could go on and on... But I won't!

The moral of the story (article) is, that your CV is a reflection not only of your skills, knowledge and experience but also of how you view and approach your own career, how seriously you take applications and how much time and effort you choose to put in to building a strong CV for yourself and those who you expect to read it.

Think about it.

What does your CV really say about you?