1. Applicants Please Note - when applying for jobs please include in your email your current gross salary and benefits for our guidance
2. Please see CV hints and Tips for important notes.

The 15 most common CV writing mistakes – and how to avoid them

 Inclusion of photographs

People often include photos of themselves on their CV.  Don’t!  Unless you are applying to be a model or wish to work as an actor/actress then including a photo with/on your CV is not recommended.  

Email addresses

Please provide a personal email address in addition to your current work email address. This will enable us to find you even after you have left your current employ. Please ensure that the email address you send us is in your name, and not a nom de plume or worse still, in someone else’s name. 

Superfluous personal details at the top of the CV

Applicants often feel that it is compulsory to include details such as their marital status, nationality, number (and ages) of children/dependants, etc. It is now simply not relevant. 

Clear section headings/separation of sections

It is vitally important for your CV to be easy for the reader to scan quickly and, to this end, clear section headings and separation of sections is essential.  We recommend the use of lines or other graphic devices in this respect, such as bullets or numbering. In today’s fast-paced world, recruiters no longer have the time to read large, solid blocks of prose.  They need to extract the information they need – and they need to do it fast.  Long paragraphs of prose are tiresome for a recruiter to read right through and, as a result, many simply won’t bother. 

Professional Profile

A Professional Profile is a brief statement at the very beginning of a CV which, in the space of a few short lines, conveys to the reader an overall impression of your key personal and professional characteristics.  It’s essentially an introduction and should give the reader an overview before they read on in further detail. 

Section order

It’s extremely important to choose an appropriate order for the various sections of your CV.  For example, the decision whether to put your Education & Qualifications before or after your Career History is critical.  It all depends on what is your greater selling point.  

Reverse chronological

It is a standard convention on CVs to use reverse chronological order, i.e. to present your most recent information first, followed by older – and consequently less relevant – information.  And we would strongly suggest you make sure your CV conforms to this. 

Excessive details of interests

You should aim to keep your interests section brief.  As with every other aspect of your CV, do include what you feel will count in your favour – but be selective about it.  Choose carefully.  You may indeed have a passion for model railways – but do you really want the recruiter to know that? 

Date of Birth

Yes, In Zimbabwe, this is required. 

Referees included

Remember to include recent and contactable referee details. 

Spelling, Grammar & Typos

It is impossible to stress enough how important this issue is.  Spelling and grammatical errors are amongst the most irritating errors a recruiter sees, amongst the most damaging errors you can make – and are also amongst the most easily avoided.  The answer is to check, check and check again – and then have someone else check for good measure! 

Length

This is one of the most common problems we see when people prepare their own CVs – they’re quite simply too long. We have seen CVs over 30 pages long (true!) with photocopies of all their certificates on top of that.  This is not an autobiography you’re writing.  It’s a curriculum vitae.  It’s a lot shorter!