Is your CV up to scratch?
CV expectations may vary from country to country, but there are some things hiring managers everywhere agree on: a bad CV is not going to get you the job. In a recent survey of more than 5,000 hiring managers and human resource professionals in countries with the largest gross domestic product, employers were asked what would cause them to immediately dismiss a CV from contention.
Six points of concern were highlighted:-
1. Spell-Check – submitting a CV with a typo is the biggest annoyance to hiring managers in France, with 68 percent of them saying they’d immediately dismiss a CV with typos, more than any other country. Brazil was second, with 67 percent saying they’d automatically pass on a CV with typos.
2. Don’t Mass-Produce – personalising your CV to the position you’re applying to is especially important in China, where 71% of hiring managers stated that they would ignore CVs that seemed generic. 45% of employers in India said the same, with 42% in the UK agreeing.
3. Use Your Own Words — employers in China are the most annoyed by CVs that copy a large amount of wording from the job posting, with 65% of Chinese employers automatically dismissing such CVs. 40% of UK employers said the same thing.
4. Highlight Your Skills — including a list of skills in a CV is most important when applying to positions in India, where 56% of employers would immediately dismiss CVs lacking a list of skills. Similarly, 55% of employers in Russia say they would reject CVs without a list of skills, UK employers concurred with 40% rejecting.
5. Keep it Professional — inappropriate email addresses are grounds for immediately rejecting a CV globally. [We all agree at Linda Taylors that emailing CuteBabsie73 on her hotmail account makes us cringe].
Finally…
6. Don’t Forget the Cover letter — employers, particularly in Germany won’t read CVs with no covering letter. It’s your opportunity to say a little bit more about YOU…