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CV layout don’ts
When you’re putting together your CV, make sure you avoid these faux pas!
DON’T be afraid to explain an employment gap
If you took a year out to travel, for personal health reasons, or struggled to find work for a long period of time, don’t be afraid to explain this on your CV.
An employer would find it suspicious if your time line had a gap, and would much prefer your honesty no matter what the reason.
DON’T include too much information
An employer is only interested in what’s relevant to them, so always tailor your CV to the role and the industry and only keep the information you need. Always get straight to the point with every sentence, and use bullet points wherever possible.
Your CV should just be a list of your skills and achievements, and not your life story. If you are worried that you haven’t gone into enough detail and don’t want to go over two pages, then consider writing a cover letter to expand further.
DON’T include irrelevant information
What would be the point? What would you achieve by going into detail about something which wouldn’t interest the employer?
Your CV may have a huge list of previous roles and tasks for each one, but are these roles relevant and would any of the tasks and skills you have be beneficial for the new employer? You don’t need to remove every single thing that’s irrelevant, but certainly look to hold back on the detail.
DON’T change your font size just to fit on the page
Don’t try and fit more information on by shrinking the font size. A font size which is too small could be difficult to read, and you are taking the wrong approach. You should instead look at what you could take out rather than changing the font size.
Look at what you don’t need and what the employer will not be interested in. For example, will they need to see every single task for your earlier roles twenty years ago?
DON’T use crazy fonts and colours
Always stick to the standard professional fonts and don’t experiment too much with colours. This doesn’t mean to say you shouldn’t use any colour at all, and sometimes a little colour for the headings and the margins can work, but if not done correctly can completely ruin the look of your CV.
DON’T create your own CV template
There are literally hundreds of ready made, professional CV templates online – and they’re all free! So instead of wasting hours and hours trying to line everything up perfectly and worrying about which font and layout to use, why not search through the huge amount of free CV templates on offer? Click here to view the free professional CV template collection.
