So, it’s been a while since your last job interview, or you’re just starting out your career, and are finding yourself a little bit stuck when it comes to doing up your CV.

Relax, we’re here to help! We spoke to some NHS employers who gave us a few first-hand tips to avoid making some very common CV mistakes. Some of these may seem straightforward, but we always find it’s a good thing to remind ourselves of these occasionally!

Spelling and/or grammatical errors

Do you know your “their” from your “they’re”? Believe us, we’ve noticed over the years even the slightest spelling or grammatical error can have a negative impact on an employer. And first impressions count- after all, your CV will more than likely be the first point of contact you will have with your prospective employer. Having spelling mistakes all over the place shows lack of focus and carelessness- and if you aren’t demonstrating these attributes at this stage of the process, what will you be like at your actual job? So, remember, make sure you proofread before hitting the submit button!!

Copy pasting

Currently, where everything is accessible on the Internet, you may have found yourself searching for CV/cover letter templates, examples of CVs, or asked a friend to share their cover letters and layouts for a bit of inspiration. Perhaps you’ve even found yourself thinking “oh, I like this line, I think I’ll use it!”. Well don’t fall into that trap! Firstly, employers can spot plagiarism a mile away. If, from the beginning of your CV your layout is short and to the point and then abruptly changes to some very long sentences with paragraphs of text, they’ll put two and two together. On the other hand, if you are copy pasting from the internet and the employer decides to look into it and do a quick google search, you can bet they’ll find where the original source is from!

Presentation

As we mentioned in our first point, generally, your CV is the first point of contact between yourself and the prospective employer. Therefore, having a basic CV with a complete lack of information isn’t going to help your chances of getting an interview, and neither will an application that contains too much irrelevant information. Think of it like this: you’re here to make a good impression on someone who has never met you before- you want them to feel like they not only WANT to meet you, but simply MUST! No one wants to read a messy CV with mistakes, errors and with no consistency in its layout. Research some CV templates for ideas and inspiration- keep it relevant and to the point! And lastly, make sure to know what the job description says, do your research and make sure to impress!

Full list of events can be found at healthcarejobfair.com/events/