5 Serious CV Mistakes That Get You Rejected From the Hiring Process

It was October 2005 when I read my first CVs. I was trying to find the first person to hire at a start-up I had enthusiastically launched just a few weeks earlier. More than 15 years have passed since then, and during that time, as an entrepreneur, a manager in a multinational company, a CEO and a consultant, I have hired directly or coordinated recruitment processes for thousands of jobs. I have hired operations managers and sales agents, cleaners and secretaries, project managers and programmers, product managers and HR specialists, executive directors and trainers. My team and I have read over 100,000 CVs and spent, cumulatively, tens of thousands of hours in interviews. I have met and hired high-quality people who went on to perform well in their careers, just as I have met candidates who were poorly prepared or perhaps simply not a good fit for the positions they were aiming for.

What I have learned over these years is that hiring managers often have to go through hundreds of CVs before finding even a few good ones. At the same time, coming across a weak CV can actually be a relief, because it means they can discard it and quickly move on to the next one.

If you don't want your CV to end up in the bin, avoid these five big mistakes that can make you look like a weak candidate:

1. An irrelevant CV headline
Your headline should sit at the top of your CV, just below your contact details.

The keywords in your CV headline tell recruiters immediately whether you are an ideal candidate for the role. For example, if you are applying for a job advertised as "Senior Brand Manager" and your CV is boldly titled "Brand Marketing Manager", recruiters will probably go on to read about your skills and experience.

But if your CV headline says "Social Media Manager", recruiters might still take a look at your CV (if there are similarities between the two roles), but they won't be as confident that you are a strong match.

2. Missing soft skills and hard skills
Hard skills relate to technical knowledge and training (for example, Photoshop, Excel), while soft skills are more like professional traits (for example, leadership, time management). I always suggest a 2:1 ratio: for every two hard skills, include one soft skill.
CVs flooded with too many soft skills undermine trust. When recruiters see only soft skills on a CV and no hard skills, they start asking questions about the candidate's level of competence. After all, we want to hire someone who actually knows how to do something concrete.

On the other hand, listing hard skills while ignoring soft skills can make you look like a one-dimensional candidate who may find it harder to fit into a team that is already working well together.

3. A design that is too colourful or too cluttered
Too many colours, overly bright colours, photos from a wedding or a day in the park, too many lines or shapes going in different directions: all of these make candidates look as if they are trying too hard.

Most hiring managers dislike colourful, overloaded CVs. I have seen many people submit CVs like these in an attempt to "stand out". But that's not how it works.

Ultimately, as with any type of communication, it's all about the audience the message is intended for. It is usually best to keep the format simple (for example, black-and-white text, clean lines, one consistent font), although in some industries, such as graphic design or advertising, your CV can reflect your creativity and your ability to do the kind of work the job involves. My advice is simple: don't overdo it! Know where to draw the line.

4. Poor formatting and grammatical errors
Here are some of the most common formatting and grammar mistakes to watch out for:

Using pronouns. Standard, accepted practice is to leave out personal pronouns such as "I", "me" and "my". So instead of writing "I implemented digital marketing campaigns", simply write "Implemented the company's digital marketing campaigns".
Writing numbers out in words. This makes it harder to spot quantifiable, measurable achievements on a CV. It also takes up valuable space. Always use numerals.
Not starting bullet points with a strong action verb. A few examples of action verbs to consider: assisted, supervised, used, led and analysed.
Using the wrong verb tense. Although it seems like a simple grammatical fix, it is a mistake many candidates make. Always use the present tense when describing your current job and the past tense for previous roles.
Too long or too short. Keep your CV between one and two full pages. If you have little experience and feel you need more content, consider mentioning university courses, volunteer work or even hobbies (if you can find a way to relate them to the job you are applying for). If, however, you already have a career behind you, then to stay within the two-page limit it's a good idea to stop detailing the responsibilities (which in most cases are copied from job descriptions anyway) of jobs you held more than 10 years ago. Nobody cares what you had to do 16 years ago when you were a call centre agent. And one more thing: if you have a master's degree in electrical engineering, there's no need to mention that you finished high school.

5. No LinkedIn profile
Your LinkedIn profile should appear in the top section of your CV, where your contact details (and your professional website, if you have one) are displayed.

Employers want people who are serious and attentive about their career progress. That means paying attention to your professional network and proudly showcasing your professional achievements.

Make sure you keep your LinkedIn profile up to date as well. Remember, your CV should contain information relevant to the specific job you are applying for, while your LinkedIn profile should appeal to a wider audience and give a more complete picture of your experience and skills.