10 ‘red flag’ words and phrases you should axe from your CV – including ambitious and passionate
A TIP-TOP CV is one quick way to make yourself stand out and boost your chances of landing that dream job.
But say the wrong thing or make a bad first impression and you could turn a prospective employer off.
And it turns out including certain words and phrases on the piece of paper will put you in a bad stead for landing your next role.
That’s according to Corinne Mills, managing director of Personal Career Management, who revealed 10 to steer clear of.
“Ambitious” was the first which, Corinne said, suggests you are not going to stay long in a job.
Meanwhile branding yourself a “people-person” is meaningless and “independent” will make it sound like you’re not a team player.
Saying you’ve got “good skills” in something will underwhelm prospective employers and it’s better to say “excellent or strong”, Corinne said.
And you shouldn’t use the word “passionate” unless you really mean it otherwise it can seem over the top.
Meanwhile, these are the “red flag” phrases you’ll want to stay away from, Corrine said:
- “I was treated unfairly”
- “I had to leave because….”
- “I couldn’t…..
- “I didn’t have….
- “It failed because….
Corinne added: “Your CV needs to present a positive picture of you so keep it upbeat.
“Don’t criticise previous employers or talk about any career difficulties, because no matter how truthful it is it can sound like whinging and that can put a new employer off.
“Always put a positive spin on things, even jobs that you couldn’t wait to leave.”
How to make your CV standout
Leaving certain words and phrases out of a CV will boost your chances of landing a job, but so will saying the right things.
According to Corrine, make sure you stay focused and clear about the type of role you want and tell the employer why you are a good fit.
Next, be authentic, playing to your strengths while avoiding making things up which could see you found out at the interview stage.
Top 20 CV faux pas
THESE are the top 20 CV faux pas that you want to avoid when applying for a job
- Telling lies
- Spelling errors
- Including a selfie as a picture
- Having a rude or inappropriate email address
- General typos
- Punctuation or grammar mistakes
- Using clichés such as ‘always go the extra mile’
- Including a picture generally
- Never holding a single job for more than three months
- No contact details
- Getting a company’s name wrong
- Suspiciously long gaps between jobs
- Going across more than two pages of A4
- CVs which aren’t CVs, such as a website or blog instead of a printed CV
- Layouts which are hard to understand/read
- Having hobbies which don’t constitute as hobbies such as ‘hanging out with friends’
- Including social media profiles/handles/links
- Not having any references included
- Using big fonts or strange layouts to make the CV look longer than it is
- Including part-time jobs which are no longer relevant
Third, provide evidence and real-life examples of how you’ve demonstrated the skills and attributes you say you’ve got.
Lastly, use positive and upbeat language and always have someone check over your CV for spelling or grammatical errors, just in case you missed anything.
How to boost your chances of getting a job
Caroline Green, careers expert and founder of The Talent Cycle, said it’s worth keeping in touch with a possible future employer throughout the application process.
HR teams may have to look through dozens, if not hundreds and thousands of applications before taking a new staff member on.
So as the applicant it’s worth getting in touch with the hiring manager to make yourself known and learn more about the role.
Tools to help you write your CV
HERE are some tools and apps that can help you put together your CV:
- Resume Builder app: If you struggle formatting your CV, you can choose from more than 50 templates in the Resume Builder app. It is is free to download and use, but has additional premium options that you can pay for.
- Grammarly: It’s important to get your spelling and grammar accurate, so run your CV through a tool such as Grammarly to check for any errors. It’s free to download straight to your desktop.
- Vizualize.me: If you’ve got an existing LinkedIn account, Vizualize.me takes the data and turns it into a timeline of your employment history and a breakdown of your skills. The free tool has six different themes so it’s a good option to make your CV look visually appealing as well.
- VisualCV: As well as making your CV look eye catching, VisualCV also makes sure it can be read by electronic systems that some recruiters use to filter CVs. It’s also free to sign up for.
Caroline said: “Job adverts aren’t always written well so this a good opportunity to find out more about what they’re actually looking for and what really matters to them.
“It also starts to build up a relationship with them and they’ll remember you when you apply.”
Caroline also said it’s worth keeping in touch after applying and if you don’t hear back via email.
On top of this, Caroline said not to include a photo in your application as HR teams think this could create unconscious bias on their behalf.
Plus, be wary of using AI tools to help build your CV which can be useful to start you off but generally HR workers and computer systems will pick up on this.
In other news, a careers expert revealed how to boost your earnings by as much as £33,000 a year without spending a penny on training.
Plus, five ways to earn up to £46,000 without a degree.
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money@the-sun.co.uk.
Plus, you can join our Sun Money Chats and Tips Facebook group to share your tips and stories.