When facing such fierce competition from other international job seekers all applying for the same position, your CV will need to be perfect. Having all the required skills and qualifications may not be enough if you can’t present a well written application.
Don’t fall into the same pitfalls that employers see time and time again when reviewing and short listing applications. These mistakes are easy to make, but also easy to avoid with the right information.
Here are the top 2 CV mistakes which will get your international CV rejected:
Poor spelling and grammar
Starting with the most obvious and the most popular; poor spelling and grammar will likely result in a rejection. Even the most highly qualified candidate will struggle to make it through to the interview stage with even the smallest of errors.
Why? The HR manager will often receive a large amount of applications, and with so much choice there is no need to go with someone who is unable to write an error-free CV. It can show a lack of care and diligence, which will typically be an important trait to have in order to perform well in the role.
Did you know that as many as 50% of CV received by recruitment consultants contain spelling or grammatical errors? For more information on this here’s a more in-depth review from The Guardian called – Spell it out.
Cliché statements
Cliché statements can cause a lot of frustration for the hiring manager, and don’t add any value to a CV. Here are a few examples of cliché statements:
- I have good communication skills
- I am a great team player
- A hard worker
- Driven by results
There are lots of reasons to avoid using these types of clichés statements. First of all, they don’t add any value to your CV because anyone can make this kind of statement. It doesn’t mean to say it is true!
Secondly, the statement doesn’t give any real indication of performance. The employer is mainly interested in finding out two things from your CV:
- What skills, qualifications and experience you claim to have?
- What examples have you provided to prove this is true?
If you can demonstrate and answer both of the above questions on your CV whilst avoiding using too many cliché statements (or any at all), you will have a far greater chance of success. Here is a more detailed list of the most popular cliché statements to avoid and why – ‘The cliché statements to avoid at all costs’.
