FINAL WORD
Kuriculum Vitay spells trouble for the txt generation
Peter Panayotou reveals the most common mistakes made when writing CVs and how to avoid them
to be “highly motivated and enthusiastic” can soon start to look the same, right? Wrong. As a CV consultant, I find that people’s CVs are as individual as their personalities, and that makes it a really interesting job. After all, everyone’s favourite subject is themselves. But there’s something else that can make certain CVs stick in the mind, beyond the odd misguided ‘gimmick’ CV: the CVs with spelling errors. My job entails reading, writing and advising people on their CVs, and I never cease to be amazed at the sloppiness and lack of attention to detail that creeps into some of them. For me, even the most effectively targeted and promising CV is rendered useless if it contains even a single spelling error. And yet, CVs that are riddled with poor spelling and bad grammar are commonplace.
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Think about it: if you allow even a single spelling error to slip through on your CV, that is an indication that you not only can’t spell but that you are lazy (couldn’t be bothered to check it) and have no attention to detail. None of which are particularly desirable. Your CV is supposed to impress, to cast you in the most favourable light, and get employers to want to interview you. There are already too many reasons for employers to reject you – don’t give them any more!
In my experience, the most common reasons why CVs fail are:
• Incorrect spelling/grammar • Irrelevant content • Poor/vague descriptions • Unattractive layout
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GradJobs.co.uk | Autumn 2016
ou might think that looking at people’s CVs all day would become routine and boring after a while. All those hopeful candidates claiming
• Length (too long/short)
Believe it or not, one of the most common mistakes involves the words ‘Curriculum Vitae’. It is no longer a hard and fast rule to have ‘Curriculum Vitae’ written across the top of your CV, but it is still often used, and consequently often misspelt. Amongst the most amusing such corruptions I have ever seen was the candidate who wrote ‘Kuriculam Vitay’ across the top of his CV – and later claimed to have excellent attention to detail. Yeah right! It is widely thought that the reason why the younger candidates are failing so consistently in their spelling is largely due to the ‘text generation’, where spelling is compromised in favour of speed and brevity. This is not helped by such aids as predictive text. Increasing reliance on modern technology means that the spell check facility in word
processing is taken for granted. But that is no real substitute for proper proofreading. The spell checker is not infallible. More experienced users will know that it sometimes doesn’t recognise words which you know to be perfectly acceptable. But there is another factor: if your typing is anything like mine, typing errors can cause you to misspell a word for another word. The spell checker will not pick this up. When you’ve finished, always get someone to proofread it. A thorough check of your grammar will do wonders for your credibility, and improve your chances of getting to that interview. n
Peter Panayotou is the senior CV consultant at The Write Stuff
thewritestuff.co.uk info@thewritestuff.co.uk
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