Common cover letter and CV mistakes

Mr. Loverman

As part of my job I review cover letters and CVs. I would see a few dozen every day.

I'd say at least half of the items I review have mistakes or at least have something which is off putting to the employer.

Here is a list of the common mistakes I see:

1. Spelling and grammar mistakes in the cover letter and/or CV

This is so common. Your cover letter and CV need to have perfect or near perfect English. Use a spell checker and get someone with a high level of English to review both items. A badly written cover letter or CV suggests you have poor attention to detail, would do a half arsed job, or at worst are uneducated.

2. Generic cover letters

This is generally a catch-all cover letter which is used for all job applications.

The point of a cover letter is to sell yourself to the employer, so you should use it to relate your skills and experience to the job you are applying for.

Generic cover letters suggest you might be lazy.

3. Poorly formatted CVs

You need to use a properly formatted CV. Every time I see a poorly formatted CV I can't help but think the person either has poor computer skills or at worst does not research things (i.e. has not done any research on how to format a CV.) You can get a CV template here: http://www.dublinjobs.ie/cv-advice/

4. Cover letters which say you are applying for a different job

Believe it or not, but I see this all the time! It ties in with the generic cover letters problem. The jobseeker is using a generic cover letter and is supposed to copy and paste the title of the job vacancy into the cover letter, but he forgets to do this, so every job he applies for has "I would like to apply for the SOME OTHER JOB vacancy you have advertised on SOME OTHER JOBSITE". Obviously these sort of job applications will be dismissed by the employer immediately.

5. Not reading the job advert

Properly read the job advert before applying for the job. Sometimes the employer will ask you to specifically mention something in your cover letter. Obviously if you fail to mention the item you won't get called for interview as the omission suggests you have poor reading skills.

6. Not including your CV

Make sure you attach your CV. Seems obvious but it happens a lot.

7. Wrong contact information

Again, seems obvious, but this happens a lot too.

8. Saying you would prefer a different job

I don't know why people do this, but it is also common. For example, someone is applying for a bar job, but in their cover letter they say they have a chemistry degree and would rather work in a chemistry related job. Obviously the employer isn't going to call you for interview as you have just told him you will feck off as soon as you find a better job.

I hope these are helpful to some of you. Best of luck with your job hunting.

sambuka41

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

4. Cover letters which say you are applying for a different job

Believe it or not, but I see this all the time! It ties in with the generic cover letters problem. The jobseeker is using a generic cover letter and is supposed to copy and paste the title of the job vacancy into the cover letter, but he forgets to do this, so every job he applies for has "I would like to apply for the SOME OTHER JOB vacancy you have advertised on SOME OTHER JOBSITE". Obviously these sort of job applications will be dismissed by the employer immediately

I've got about 4 of them this week alone. Also CV's where the people are applying for loads of jobs so instead of doing up a new letter for each they start the cover letter with:

RE: OTHER JOB/ JOB IM ADVERTISING/ OTHER JOB

So they get to send the same one to several places, very lazy.

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

5. Not reading the job advert

Properly read the job advert before applying for the job. Sometimes the employer will ask you to specifically mention something in your cover letter. Obviously if you fail to mention the item you won't get called for interview as the omission suggests you have poor reading skills.

This is very important,I would say that if there is an ad with more than one job in it, be sure that you take the time to mention the job you are applying for in your email/cover letter. Don't just put "I would like to apply for the job you advertised" Which one?? :rolleyes:


Oh as well, no 6 page CV's. There is no need for 6 pages,edit it, if you have a lot of experience try only include the most relevant to the job you've applied for. And don't leave off vital information/ experience from your CV then mention it in the interview, it looks strange and time is wasted exploring what you have said and where it fits on the CV.

Amtmann

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

3. Poorly formatted CVs

You need to use a properly formatted CV. Every time I see a poorly formatted CV I can't help but think the person either has poor computer skills or at worst does not research things (i.e. has not done any research on how to format a CV.) You can get a CV template here: http://www.dublinjobs.ie/cv-advice/

I agree with everything except the bit about listing your hobbies. Unless one's hobbies have something to do with the position that you're applying for, a hobbies section can look juvenile or just completely out of place. Better to fill the CV with skills or a relevant 'related experience' section in my opinion.

Mrs OBumble

sambuka41 wrote: »

Oh as well, no 6 page CV's. There is no need for 6 pages,edit it, if you have a lot of experience try only include the most relevant to the job you've applied for. And don't leave off vital information/ experience from your CV then mention it in the interview, it looks strange and time is wasted exploring what you have said and where it fits on the CV.

I wouldn't apply this as a blanket rule. You need to tailor the content to the audience.

My super-dumbed-down CV is two pages.

My office-admin-professional one is three.

But my IT-professional one is up to six pages, with relevant information for the jobs I apply for: if I apply for a QA or project admin role, it it gets shorter 'cos I can leave out a bunch of BA techniques and tool-names. For a BA job, I leave the whole lot in.

Horses for courses ...

abrr1000

I don't agree with that - a 6 page CV? who is going to read 6 pages? it has to be to the point otherwise the person reading it will get bored and lost in all the information.
As a rule 1 page is perfect and 2 pages is maximum in my honest opinion.
Only relevant information is necessary - like you don't need to list every subject you studied in every school and college you went to and every single task you may have carried out in work. Only relevant should be mentioned.