CV DO'S & DON'TS - De-clutter Your CV NOW!

There is such a thing as the "perfect CV" and it all stems from you. What you decide to include on your CV and what you decided to exclude. This blog post serves to give you critical do's and don'ts for your CV, helping you to de-clutter your CV with unnecessary information and focusing on adding quality information that recruiters want.

UNNECESSARY SENSITIVE PERSONAL INFORMATION

They really need to update the CV format found in LO books because your ID & House address is sensitive information that should not appear in your CV. WHY? some job listings can be a complete dupe and giving out such sensitive info easily & readily is a potential danger to your identity and to yourself, physically.

ALTERNATIVES 

you can list the suburb you live in as an alternative just to let the recruiter know that you are applying for a job that is within your area or simply to inform them where you're based. As for the ID number, there isn't quite an alternative to that unless you only list the first 6 digits and * (star) the rest. Still, I strongly recommend you don't include it at all.


DON'T JUST LIST YOUR JOB EXPERIENCE, LIST YOUR DUTIES TOO 👀

Recruiters want to see what duties you have at your current job and how that relates to the skills you state to have on your CV. if you simply describe yourself as hard-working, a team player and give excellent customer service without listing the duties you've done in your previous and current jobs you can understand that the recruiter will rightly question where you received the skills you're talking about.

When you list your duties it also gives the recruiter insight into what your daily tasks were and helps them gauge if you could possibly be the right candidate for the job.

ALTERNATIVES 

There are no alternatives for this one but make sure you're brief and to the point with your duties. Long sentences and paragraph descriptions of duties can bore a recruiter. so be sweet, simple and to the point.

 LIST VALUABLE WORK EXPERIENCE 💰💸

Not all work experience is valuable work experience. That job you did for about a month or maybe even 2 weeks before you quite the place because it "wasn't your vibe", it looks bad on your CV and you can trust that if you secure an interview the recruiter will ask you about it. If you have a valid reason though, like you relocated, then you can list it and be sure to add the reason for leaving so that the recruiter knows beforehand.


THE ORDER OF YOUR EXPERIENCE & YOUR ENTIRE CV

A great way to structure your CV is to add contact details, skills and your experience first. Don't start with education. This way, your recruiter immediately sees the jobs you've worked and the skills you've acquired and entices them to turn towards the next page where your education and references will be.
Try to keep your CV short, a maximum of 2 pages. Don't try to squeeze all the information in, in a bid to only have a one page CV.

When it comes to the chronological order of your experience PLEASE start with the most recent job experience first. why would you want to start with your very first tuckshop job and then work your way up to your office job at Highveld Techno Park? It doesn't make sense logically and will most definitely confuse the recruiter.

THE AGE OLD STORY OF REFERENCES 😩😟

Unless your friend or family members own companies that you genuinely worked for, you can list them as your references but other than that, DON'T. Not only is it extremely unprofessional but it also discredits your abilities because which friend or immediate family member will have something honest to say about you or not over-exaggerate your abilities? Besides, most of the time your references don't get contacted but still, at least try to look credible with the references you enlist on your CV.