TOP 10 COMMON MISTAKES PREVENTING YOU FROM GETTING THAT DREAM JOB

TOP OUTLANDISH OR FUNNY RESUME/COVER LETTER MISTAKES IN NIGERIA (YOU SHOULD DO WELL TO AVOID)

Many job seekers and career individuals submit CVs and resumes to numerous job applications and end up not being considered even for interviews. It is a recurring problem in the job market. Most of my friends do ask me what is so unique about your CV that makes 7 out of 10 companies you send your CV to tend to call you for test and am about to revel to you some of these funny or downright outlandish errors and omissions. Individuals whose CVs contain one or more of these errors will find that there numerous submission of CVs may be an exercise in futility.

In the cause of my NYSC and helping some friends I have seen some very funny and curious CV and Cover letter mistakes by job seekers. I will outline some of the best, most common mistakes and errors found in candidates’ CV.

Knowing about these errors and avoiding them will make your CV stand a better chance during filtering and short listing processes.

Now the best of the best CV errors;

1. EMPTY CV ATTACHED

How do you think an employer feels opening your message in his inbox and attempting to open your attached CV only to see an empty MS word document? I have seen several people make this mistake of sending an empty document for a job thinking they sent their CV.

This most always happens to someone who had another person write their CV and send to them via mail. In the process of downloading the CV and using for their applications they don’t realize they are only working with an empty document.

Be sure to check through the content of your CV and make sure it contains all the information you think it contains before attaching it to any email application you are making.

2. FUNNY TYPOS

You get to see funny typographic errors in many CVs which shows evidence of very little or poor editing of CVs by some candidates. Nothing shows a recruiter that you are not meticulous as seeing numerous spelling errors in your CV or Cover Letter.

The simple remedy is to take the time to create your CV, review what you created and seek the help of a more experienced colleague or friend to vet what you created. That way you have a CV that will potentially impress recruiters and employers.

3. ARROGANT MESSAGES

Many candidates mistake arrogance for personal hype and branding. Some cover letters read like something written by a braggard.

By all means you should write a CV and Cover Letter that portrays all your strengths and suitability for the job. However you should draw the line between solid persuasive facts and empty bragging words. If you start bullshitting in your CV or Cover letter many recruiters will see through that. Be sure you have the facts to support all claims of experience, achievements and accomplishments.

4. LOTS OF LONG AMBIGUITY AND VAGUE STATEMENTS

‘During my career, I was able to work as a team and head some teams…..’ Nothing as vague and non-definite as this will sway an employer in your favour yet we see so many individuals write CVs that pass little or no meaningful information about what they have achieved.

Better your achievements are brief, clear and definite than you list endless statements of ambiguity.

5. DUTIES INSTEAD OF ACHIEVEMENT

This is far mor common as most people would rather outline the duties handled in their previous places of work than take the time to outline definite achievements you made at those places. Outlining in definite and measurable terms what you have done and achieved in your previous places of work will catch the eye of your prospective employer more easily.

eg instead of writing something like, ‘Managed the sales and distribution of products’ use a more powerful eye-catching illustration of your achievements in that position. Something like, ‘Improved sales and distribution volume of ABC product by over 25% in 3 months’ or ‘Managed the sales of about N4 million worth of goods per quarter’

Stating achievements in a definite and measurable way paints the picture of your abilities to the employer and makes a stronger case for you than having you just merely list your job duties.

6. TERM PAPER CVS

It is agreed that CVs should be ideally 1 or 2 pages and at most 3 pages to enable the prospective employers retain sufficient interest to go through your CV.

At times employers get confronted with what we call “term paper CVs” that are too long and probably too boring to the employer.

7. USING OVER WORN CLICHES

Job applicants who attend some career seminars learn only to input all sorts of over worn cliches.

Cliches such as ‘Excellent Communication skills’ and so on have been over-worn and over used by many job seekers that it has ceased having any impact whatsoever on any employer. Instead of using the same old phrases that every other person puts in their CVs you need to make your CV free of useless phrases that make no impact and instead concentrate on putting definite information that the prospective employer can work with.

8. PLAIN, WACKY DESIGN

Your CV might contain no spelling errors but if the design and layout of the CV is not straight-forward, easy to read and pleasing to the eye you could be missing from the employers’ consideration. One way to catch the recruiter/employers eye almost immediately is to have a CV that’s well arranged and with a pleasing layout. 

9. INCORRECT CONTACT INFORMATION

As an employer I have found myself a few times wanting to contact a prospective candidate only to see that the candidates’ phone numbers or email address is incorrect. There is no surer way to lose a job interview opportunity as the employer will have no choice but to throw your application aside. Always be sure to have your contact information cross-checked before submitting your application to make sure you can easily be reached if need arises.

10. WRONG ADDRESS & LOCATION

Second to incorrect information is to have a wrong address or location to the one desired by the employer. Unless you are a candidate with a highly sought after qualification and skills the chances are that the employer will not come after you no matter your location.

Many employers when they advertise for candidates for a job in a specific location they state that only candidates who live in such locations or nearby should apply. They do this because they do not expect to pay anybody extra transportation and relocation costs. Be sure when you are applying for a job in a location different from your current one that the location and address will not be a blocking factor.

WISHING YOU ALL SUCCESS IN YOUR JOB SEARCH

Type AMEN