Having worked as a Hiring Manager and a Recruiter, I have screened thousands of CV’s throughout my career. Some make me want to pick up the phone straight away, some make me want to cry.
I often get requests from candidates “How do I make my CV stand out more?” or “My CV is 7 pages long, how can I shorten it without leaving out crucial information?”. Especially in the Oil and Gas industry, where people move countries and often move from one project to another, candidates struggle to keep their CV “to the point”.
There are hundreds of websites with tips on how to write the perfect CV and many books about the subject have already been published. To me, there is no such thing as the perfect CV. There are, however, a few things you can avoid doing before sending out your next resume!
On top of the obvious things, such as don’t forget your contact details and avoid spelling mistakes, here’s my list with the 10 DON’T’s of CV writing.
1. Instructions
Don’t ignore instructions! If the job advert states to email your CV in Word format, including your salary expectations and 2 references, then do so. Why would a potential employer want to meet you if you can’t even follow-up simple instructions PRIOR to getting the job?
2. Fancy decorations
Unless you’re applying for a job as a Graphic Designer or an Advertising Manager for which you can show off your skills with a witty layout, you better keep your CV simple. Don’t use colourful logo’s to list the companies you’ve worked for. Don’t use a coloured background or flowery decorations. White background and black (or dark grey) text is the way to go.
3. Comic Sans MS Bold or Lucida Handwriting?
Don’t use a font that will make your CV a pain to read. Also keep in mind that not all operating systems use the fonts that come with your PC. If you send your document in Word, go for a universally recognised font such as Arial, Times New Roman or Verdana and never exceed font size 12. If you think these fonts are too boring, use a different one but make sure it is readable and save your CV in PDF so it always looks like you intended to.
4. Your email address is cooldude@sillydomain.com?
Applying for a job is serious business. Make sure the email address used on your CV is serious too!
5. Don’t write a book
Long paragraphs and text with no overview are your worst enemy. Clear sections, titles and bullet points will get you to hiring heaven! Make your CV skimmable, one-liners are best.
6. Does size matter?
Your resume shouldn’t exceed 3 pages.
7. It’s not all about job titles
A potential employer is interested in what you can bring to your new job. Don’t stick with just job titles and responsibilities. It’s all about achievements, what is it that made you successful in your previous role but even more important, how can you make the company you’ll work for a success? Instead of writing “Sales Manager and team leader” write “increased sales revenue by 20% in 2008, hired and managed a team of 12 Sales Reps and 4 Account Managers”.
8. You have 3 cats and like food?
I know hobby’s on a CV are a DON’T in the US but they are definitely not in Europe and Asia and I personally am a big fan of them. If you decide to list hobbies, make sure they are relevant and give the person who reads them some more info about who you are. Being a stamp collector and a chess player might not get you very far if you apply for a role where team spirit is a key element but it might be relevant for an analytical, stand-alone job. Again, think about achievements. Write “Running: completed 4 marathons under 3 hours” rather than “like running”. Write “raised over $20,000 in funds for the Red Cross and mentored 12 new volunteers rather than “involved in charity work”.
9. The best skills in the world?
Avoid skills that have nothing to do with the job you apply for. Unless you have aspirations to work in a cocktail bar, no one cares if you can make the best Bloody Mary! Skills such as Word, Excel, typing, etc are don’ts too unless they were specifically asked for. They are skills everyone is required to have these days and don’t belong on a CV.
10. Shooting blanks?
Don’t make an employer guess what you have done, fill-in the blanks! If you haven’t worked for a year because you needed some time out or you only worked with your last company for 6 months, list it!
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