As I have been spending quite some time recently trying to contact candidates for various roles I have come across the same basic mistakes on peoples CV’s, which can either slow the application down or even stall it completely.
- Contact details out of date or incorrect, also individuals getting their own e-mail address wrong either by transposing letters or spelling mistakes, i.e. [email protected] This tends to frustrate recruiters and hiring managers and if they cannot get hold of you, then you will lose out.
- No Contact details, we have received CV’s with no contact details at all on the CV, it is not so bad if they have the original e-mail where your CV came from, but often CV’s are printed off without the covering e-mail and therefore they cannot contact you.
- Address, it is current policy not to have your address on your CV, however it is still a good idea to have a location on it, either town or county, as some of the roles need personnel who live within a reasonable commute to the role or if you are looking to relocate to the area.
- Voicemail, it is strange in this day that a number of individuals do not have their voicemails switched on, or even worse have stupid voicemails on their phones, bearing in mind if you are looking for a role and a company calls you, having a stupid voicemail may put them off.
- E-mail address, please use normal e-mail address, i.e. paul.smith283@….. and not things like longrangesniper@… Or championbeerdrinker@… Or others that we cannot even print, they may be funny, but potential employers may see these e-mail addresses and they will not look good to them. If necessary, get a second e-mail address and set it up so that he will deliver to your main one.
- Personal details, we have noticed recently that individuals are giving away too much personal information, i.e. passport numbers and NI numbers, unless you are positive as to who you are sending your CV, or uploading it to a website, then this information should be removed, as some websites (not mine), will allow companies or individuals to search their databases, and there are some people out there, that if they can get that amount of information, could then use that info to clone your ID and use it for other means.
- Calling back, I have had recently a few situations where I have reached out to individuals re their applications, left voice mails and sent e-mails, and it has taken the individuals a significant period to me, some are on holiday/Exercise/Operations, fair enough, but when sending a CV and you know you will uncontactable, let them know. However, some guys when they did get in touch after a few days, came across as they did not really care or have been knocked back so often, as they seemed to go through the motions and were not really interested.
These are some of the issues that we at Ex-Mil Recruitment and I am sure at other recruiters have been coming across time and again.
Folks, it a very competitive marketplace out there, and if you make yourself difficult to get hold of, then you will miss out, even if you are the best person for the role.
