As coronavirus continues to ravage through the world, it is with no doubt that it has had a significant impact on people’s careers. Lay-offs, pay cuts, hiring freezes as well as rescinded job offers just to mention a few. To put things into perspective, data analysts confirm that the number of unemployed youths in Kenya stands at a whopping 38.9%. Considering the harsh conditions amid the pandemic, the figures could be higher, yet the job market is much tougher.
Despite the pandemic heavily affecting most industries especially at an economic standpoint, some industries such as e-commerce, delivery and cybersecurity continue to thrive, therefore, it is important that candidates remain optimistic and keep applying for new roles.
The job application process is already quite tough and gruelling. The timeframe to impress prospective employers shortens as recruitment teams often receive applications ranging in the thousands. Candidates should thus be creative to ensure they stand out and not get lost in the numbers. Added importance and value is attached to an error-free CV, which could either make or break your employment prospects.
Candidates should take time during this pandemic to ensure that their CVs are top tier. Here are 10 of the most common and glaring mistakes that are severely hampering your chances of landing that prestigious job.
- Presenting your opinion
Keep your CV factual. Recruiters are only interested in the facts. They are not interested in the opinions of yourself, as these are not necessarily the truth, due to personal bias. So, stick to the facts, and the facts only. The opportunity to state your opinions will present itself at the interview stage of the recruitment process.
- Unprofessional Email address
If you are still using those old and tacky emails, like [email protected] or [email protected], ditch them right away. Employers certainly get put off by those less-than-professional email addresses that job candidates are still insistent on using. With the internet, as it is these days, it should only take a couple of minutes to create a nice-looking email that does not stand out on your CV for the wrong reasons.
- Careless Use of Tenses
Several of us are guilty of this. Admit it! The misuse of tenses can turn out to be a huge deal-breaker when employers are evaluating prospective candidates. Therefore, avoid using the present tense when describing your work experience for a previously held job position. This also includes using past tense for any jobs that you currently occupy. The aim is not to make just a good first impression, but to make a lasting one.
- Typos
“Typos are like rocks in a New England Garden. No matter how many you find and remove, the next time you look a big one will be staring you in the face.” – Dr David Williams
Yes, you read that correctly. Those typographical errors could be all that stands between you and that fancy finance or marketing-related position that your heart has always desired. Believe it or not, the consistently careless use of “there” instead of “their”, “your” instead of “you’re” and forgetting to place apostrophes, where they should be, can have a devastating effect on your job prospects.
It is also important to remember that typographical errors are not only limited to grammar. Other examples include inconsistent use of line spacing, not taking care of “widows” and “orphans” as well as getting sloppy with text alignment.
Ensure that you proofread twice, thrice, or even four times before you send off that vital document. It is, however, more effective to get someone else to proofread your CV for you, as they are more likely to spot those mistakes unbeknown to you.
- Certain Personal Details
The employment scene has most certainly evolved over the last couple of decades. If you have not been paying considerable attention during this time, then here is a good piece of advice. Don’t include personal details like your marital status, gender, ethnicity, religious preference or national ID number on your CV. This may have been the unwritten rule in the distant past, but as mentioned earlier, the times have changed. In most countries, it is now illegal for employers to ask prospective candidates for this information, and so the need for it to be included within CVs has quickly dissipated.
- Company-specific jargon
This is another one that can “slip between your fingers” if you’re not careful. You need to remember that every business and every industry has its own technical terminologies. These days, several companies have their own internal naming systems for customised software, technology and processes that are specific and only known to the organisation, and not by outsiders
So be sure to exclude such jargon from your CVs as employers can easily misinterpret these terms, or they may not understand what they mean in the first instance, which would be to your detriment.
- Tired buzzwords
It may sound like an overused cliché or a broken record, but as a job seeker, you are looking to stand out from the rest of the candidates. Avoid annoying buzzwords as if they were a plague. Employers do not want to know that you can “think outside of the box” or have “good team working skills”. Instead, they want you to demonstrate specific instances that illustrate and substantiate your claim to have a certain skill or quality that they are looking for.
A photo of yourself
Having a small photo of yourself in the header of your CV is not a rule that must be strictly followed to the letter. Whether or not you choose to include a photo of yourself should have no bearing on the result of your job application. Your physical appearance should not define whether you can be able to perform the job role and it should therefore not disqualify you from the selection process. However, that does not mean you should not dress smartly for interviews!
- Unimpressive educational qualifications
As you move further forward in your professional career, you gradually develop a strong portfolio of work experience and qualifications. The examination results you were stressing over in high school or university become even less important.
This is not to say that they become irrelevant. Fresh graduates still need to impress employers with good degree classifications. However, a lot of job seekers still “shoot themselves in the foot” by including less-than-stellar educational qualifications within their CVs.
For example, if out of nine subjects, you achieved three grades of below 60% in Chemistry, French and Geography, you need not mention this explicitly. This will only lower your leverage for the position that you are applying for. Instead, you could, for example, state that you achieved the following:
GCSEs – 9 subjects (3A, 2Bs, 1C and 3Ds) including Mathematics, English and Chemistry
This way, you do not draw any unwanted attention to the “unpleasant outliers” in your academic qualifications.
- Embellishing your CV
This is probably one of the biggest CV faux pas that you could possibly make. Any false claims that you make on your CV are likely to be found out and are likely to lead to your dismissal if you are found guilty of making a fraudulent job application. This would also seriously affect your chances of finding work with another company. You may appear on an internal fraud database. Prospective employers may use this database to confirm whether candidates applying for open positions have any criminal records.
We encourage you to go ahead and rid your CVs of these mistakes. This way, you increase your chances with prospective employers amid this global pandemic. The job market is now more competitive. Take time and stand out from the rest.
