Avoid these mistakes

Do you fall in the percentage of applicants that get the “Sorry but you were unsuccessful at this time” email when applying for jobs or are you just looking to make sure you don’t fall in that category?

Here are 7 mistakes that you may not know you’re doing and that could be causing you to not get shortlisted for job roles.

(1) Not sending a cover letter

The average recruiter or employer may be shortlisting over 50 applications for a role and may even have other roles to work on. You need to consider this because a lot of them will use the cover letter as a way of shortlisting through applications much quicker.

A lot of other applicants may have the wrong type of experience or skill set for the job which in some cases can be reviewed from the cover letter, so make sure you submit one with a summary of your experience and skill set and how it’s relevant to the role. Acknowledge the job requirements and how you would be the perfect fit.

(2) Spelling mistakes in your CV

Go through your CV, cover letter and any portfolios (if you have any) and make sure you check for spelling mistakes. We found that after asking over 1000 employers on the most common reasons why they rejected a CV, spelling came up in 80% of their answers.

Give your CV to a set of fresh eyes to scan through, it could make all the difference.

(3) CV layout and format

Is your CV easy to read? The format and layout of your CV is crucial as it’s a way of employers seeing your attention to detail. Having a poorly structured CV can be off putting for anybody trying to read your CV and could lead to you being rejected.

(4) Contact information

Make sure your contact information is up-to-date, you don’t want to go through all this effort and provide your old mobile number. Also, make sure you use a work appropriate email address.

Most candidates use their full name and last for their email. (no nicknames)

(5) Not tailoring your CV to the job

There is nothing worst for a recruiter or employer to open a CV or cover letter and find that you haven’t even read the job description/advert or that you have just sent a generic CV that doesn’t answer much of the question ‘would you be able to do the requirements of the role?’.

Make sure you read the job description and requirements and point out any relevant skills, experiences and achievements you have had in that area. Show an interest in the industry and company, researching the company’s website takes less than 30 mins and make the difference between getting the job and not getting the job.

(6) References

The more information you provide for references shows confidence and provides employers with confidence that your CV has the correct information.

Work experience is a huge deciding factor in most roles and providing evidence to your career history will go a long way on your CV.

(7) Stay calm

I know this one is easier said than done, but staying calm during the whole process of applying and interviewing will allow you to make clearer decisions and make you look much more confident in taking the role and tasks on