On one of my many visits to businesses or enterprises, I met with Mrs. Irene Banford, the Human Resource Manager at Haknary group of companies to discuss and throw more light on why employers snub curriculum vitaes’ without even reading them.
Surely, it could be undisputed that you are qualified for a job, but your curriculum vitae is a complete turn off. In 5 pointers, this article will prove how:
1. Your Curriculum Vitae (CV) is not labelled properly.
According to Mrs. Banford, a majority of curriculum vitaes’ do not get the employer’s endorsement because of how they are labelled. Let’s look at it this way, if an employer is receiving a great number of applications on a single position without proper naming, how are they going to successfully monitor all the curriculum vitaes? To be on a safer side, label your curriculum vitae accordingly. For this, she suggests that job hunters name their curriculum vitae by their first and last name. This will help the employer have an easier time when short listing and keeping track of all the applicants. According to her, you could name your curriculum vitae as, for instance, ‘Ruth Berning CV or BerningCV’. It is that easy.
2. Mailing your Curriculum Vitae (CV) as a “forwardâ€.
If you are in the practice of forwarding your curriculum vitae and I mean from the last curriculum vitae you sent, I am here to tell you that this is one of the wrongs recruiters don’t forgive easily. It not only shows a lack of direction but it portrays you as a lazy person. To end, how difficult is it to completely create a new email when applying for a job?
3. Mailing your Curriculum Vitae (CV) with lots of attachments.
Many at times employers have about a minute to glance through your application to decide if they will shortlist you for a job. One of the wrongs that job hunters make is sending so many attachments for one job application. This usually includes a curriculum vitae, cover letter, all certificates and some even take it far by adding their birth certificate as well as health records. Thoroughly read the job description and note what the employer wants. If they request you send curriculum vitae only, kindly do not send a cover letter along. If they say to email your applications, a curriculum vitae and a cover letter will do. Avoid adding your certificates when applying for a job unless the employer has explicitly asked you to. Odds are, they will tell you to come along with the other documents when they shortlist you for an interview.
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 4. Saving your Curriculum Vitae (CV) in the incorrect format
MS Word and PDF format should be the only formats to use when sending your curriculum vitae to potential employers. Shun sending your curriculum vitae and saving it in a format that cannot be accessible. Saving your curriculum vitae in the wrong format will result in employers not getting the opportunity to look at your curriculum vitae and you are to blame for that. “I have had job applicants posting curriculum vitaes’ by sharing it on Google docs where I have to have authorization to view the file, something which is intolerable,†says Mrs. Banford. To be on a safer side, just save it as a word document, as it is the easiest.
5. Your Curriculum Vitae (CV) is too lengthy
The length of your curriculum vitae is based on your working experience but having a very long curriculum vitae runs the risk of an employer neglecting it before getting a chance to peruse it. You cannot possess 3 years’ experience and afford to write a 15 page curriculum vitae. The recruiting manager has many more curriculum vitaes’ to shortlist so odds are that your 15 page document will be rejected. An employer will simply go on to the next, more shorter and organized curriculum vitae.
In this competitive job market, applying for a job and getting called for an interview is quite a big challenge. Nevertheless, if you prevent these mistakes, you will increase the odds of an employer considering your curriculum vitae for a job offer.
 By: Elikem Quashigah