4 Stupid Mistakes That Make Your CV Confusing - And How To Make It Flow Logically Instead

Job-seekers often get so embroiled in their attempt to impress the recruiter that their CV ends up disorganized and confusing.

Recruiters will not spend time trying to make sense of your CV. If they get confused – you get rejected.

Remember, your CV has to answer these 2 questions clearly - Who am I and why am I suitable? Is your CV conveying these in a manner that recruiters understand?

Here are 4 stupid CV mistakes that make your CV confusing and tips to ensure your CV flows logically and is meaningful to recruiters.

1) Stupid Overview Mistakes

An overview on top of your CV quickly shows recruiters who you are. It is meant to give them direction. But job-seekers often create vague & misdirected overviews which leave the recruiter baffled.

Vague Job Title

Job-seekers often include vague or inaccurate job titles in their overview – they use titles that are generic & imply a wide area of responsibilities, when they have not handled all areas that the title suggests. This confuses the recruiter, as it creates a picture which then does not coincide with the information provided in the CV.

For example, saying “Experienced Marketing Professional” is vague because you may not have handled ALL aspects of marketing. Instead - detail your primary role – brand management, retail, packaging, sales…

# Focus on highlighting your specific experience you actually have instead of just stating your job title.

Meaningless Overview

Another major mistake job-seekers make is creating an overview full of self-praise and unsubstantiated information.

Wrong- Innovative, hardworking and award winning sales professional with a track record of winning major sales contracts is vague....

Instead - Sales Manager with 14 years’ experience in Dairy products is not only simple to understand but also gives a clear picture of who you are.

# Your summary needs to be a precise pointer on who you are. In not more than 5 lines list your actual specialization, line of work, and your current role.

2) Stupid Work Experience & Achievement Mistakes

Your work experience and achievements are the most important part of your CV. They define why you are right for the job. These must be organized impeccably.

Imprecise work experience

I come across a lot of CV's of people with good backgrounds who fail to mention the most basic facts. I finish reading their entire CV but I am still unable to understand what that person was doing.

For example A Civil Engineer who states ‘I handle construction projects’, but does not mention the type of construction. So how can a recruiter guess whether it relates to a building, a township, a bridge or a refinery? Or a Sales Executive selling FMCG products who fails to specify products and leaves the recruiter guessing?

All recruiters are looking for a match with what they need. Usually all recruiters follow the same motto - “When in doubt cut it out”.

# Do not create confusion. Give precise factual detailing and information on your work. Ensure that obvious and basic facts on your responsibilities, products and operations are shown.

Confusing your Achievements with Your Responsibilities

Job-seekers often present their responsibilities as achievements. This confuses the recruiter into believing you have not achieved anything!

If, as an IT professional, you handled projects for the banking industry, that’s your job function – you cannot call it an achievement.

How well you handled the banking project, the costs you saved, the deadlines you met – those are your achievements.

Don’t confuse the recruiter - give facts and figures to dig into.

# Your responsibilities are not your achievements. Your achievements are what you contribute to an organization that is of benefit to them.

Listing Your Work Experience & Achievements together

I have noticed job-seekers mix up their routine responsibilities with their achievements.

If your achievements are hard to find, recruiters miss them because, remember, they have a very short attention span, beyond which they get confused and move on.

# Include your accomplishments in a separate section alongside your job experience. This will give your achievements the correct prominence.

Concentrating all achievements into a single section

Listing all your achievements in a single separate section is a terrible mistake.

Recruiters won’t know which achievement belongs to which company and have to repeatedly cross reference with the job descriptions.

Avoid creating confusion and stress for the recruiter – the recruiter should be able to get the information AT A GLANCE.

# Each Job / company must have a corresponding achievement section to avoid confusing the recruiter.

3) Overemphasizing your early career

What companies hunt for is expertise that relates to your recent jobs. Recruiters are interested in what level you are at currently and what you can deliver at that level of experience or seniority.

It confuses recruiters if you attempt to relate your expertise to the job you held 3 companies back or 6 years ago or as a trainee.

# Make sure that your current job comes out the strongest with good achievements backed by hard facts and figures.

4) Overusing Abbreviations and Jargon

Nothing confuses a recruiter more than coming across abbreviations that cannot be figured out. Maybe you think everyone knows that CA stands for Chartered Accountant - but it could stand for Cost Accountant, Calisthenics Advisor, Certified Auditor OR Cartoon Artist.

If you think that a recruiter will do a Google search to figure out abbreviations you are mistaken.

Jargon may be a necessary evil, but you should not overuse it – recruiters might be unfamiliar with particular terms and it may work against you. For example- delivered service level YTD 2015 – 94 % YTD 2016 – 99 %, may be confusing, it’s simpler & more practical to use plain English.

# Ensure all jargon and abbreviations are kept to a minimum and used only where necessary.

==============================================================

Is your CV confusing to read? Does it clearly reflect your expertise and value? Does your expertise jump off the page?

For a FREE PROFESSIONAL EVALUATION AND FEEDBACK of the strengths and weaknesses of your CV, mail your CV to [email protected], and get tips and advice on how you can improve the impact of your CV and boost your job search.

Also feel free to connect with me on Linkedin for regular CV tips, vacancies, interview guidelines and advice on how to conduct a successful job search.