5 things to avoid in your CV

While video CVs are becoming an increasingly popular way to share your CV with recruiters, the standard word-based CV is still one of the most common ways for job seekers to apply for roles in the vast majority of industries. 

An effective CV needs to be concise enough for recruiters to check quickly but detailed enough to showcase your skills and experience adequately. 

Striking the right balance can be difficult, but writing a great CV is easier when you know what is important to include (and what you should leave out) while drafting or editing your CV. 

In this article, we explore how to structure your CV, what you should and shouldn’t include on your CV, and the benefits of writing a strong CV. 

How to structure your CV 

If you’re wondering how to structure your CV, it’s best to remember the adage ‘keep it simple’. Simplicity is key when crafting your CV, and you may find it easier to start from scratch rather than making edits as you go. 

Regardless of your strategy, here are a few key points to remember: 

Start with your name and a simple profile - An ideal career profile will briefly summarise your experience to date and highlight the type of role you are looking to move into. There’s no need to overcomplicate things - one sentence is ideal here. 

Move on to discuss previous experience - Employers will be most interested in hearing about relevant career experience. Start with your most recent role and work backwards. For each job role, include a summary of your responsibilities and key achievements from your time at the company. 

After discussing your previous experience, you should include your educational details, credentials, and workplace training. Towards the end of your CV, you may wish to add further details about specific skills, hobbies, and interests (if appropriate).

What you should and shouldn't include on your CV 

What you should include on your CV  

Your contact details - It might sound obvious, but you must include up-to-date contact details so that recruiters can get in touch with you about interview opportunities! Include a phone number and a professional-sounding email address. 

Key skills and strengths - You might find it useful to include a section showcasing your specific skills and experience. This is particularly useful for technical roles such as an Ethical Hacker or AWS Cloud Computing Engineering, where recruiters will be interested in hearing about your skill set. 

Learn how to identify your Unique Selling Points 

Your achievements in previous job roles - As well as listing the key responsibilities of your previous job roles, aim to include a few things that you achieved in your previous jobs. Solid experience of your achievements is, without doubt, impressive to potential employers.  

Relevant interests and experience - If you have space, you may add a section on hobbies or interests. However, only include hobbies relevant to the role you are applying for (for example, hobbies showing good leadership or teamwork skills). 

What you should not include on your CV

Unnecessary personal details - While you might consider including details of your family or personal circumstance on your CV, try to refrain from including any information that could enable a recruiter to make judgments about your situation before inviting you to interview. 

CVs containing personal information such as dates of birth are problematic to companies trying to avoid falling foul of the Equality Act of 2010. Therefore, it may be best to avoid including this sort of information on your CV.  

Irrelevant hobbies or interests - While there is an argument for including relevant hobbies and interests on your CV, you should take care to avoid wasting space discussing hobbies that are irrelevant or sound too generic. If your hobbies and interests are in no way relevant to the role you are applying for, you might find it beneficial to focus on other details for your CV. 

Previous jobs from decades ago - Depending on your employment history, you should only include relevant job roles from the last few years. Arguably, you focus on jobs from the past decade, as jobs from over ten years ago are unlikely to be of interest to employers (unless directly linked to the roles you’re applying for now). Wherever possible, stick to recent employment experience. 

Outdated achievements & qualifications - While certifications and achievements can be highly compelling on your CV, take care to include only qualifications that are still in date, and try to avoid including achievements that are too outdated for potential employers. Try to stay as current as possible when listing achievements on your CV! 

Benefits of a strong CV 

The main benefit of crafting a strong CV is that it will enable potential employers to see your suitability for roles that you are interested in applying for. While a lengthy and unfocused CV can be off-putting to recruiters, a concise and relevant CV will help you stand out from others and, hopefully, land you an interview for your ideal position. 

While job seekers often face stiff competition from other candidates, having a clear, well-outlined CV can help you improve your chances of being selected by employers to progress to the next stage. 

Now you know what you should and shouldn’t include on your CV, find out how to write a great CV. 

Call us on +44 (0) 20 3198 7700 to speak to one of our Career Consultants today, to discuss your career goals or get started.