What should you NOT put in your CV?

When writing your CV, it is important to know that times have moved on in terms of what is or isn't acceptable or needed. Some practices are also more/less acceptable in different countries, and for differing levels of experience - we'll go into detail below. These points are related to discrimination, space saving, relevance, CV scanning software (ATS) readability, and ensuring readers aren't put off from the get-go.

Age

• Including your age or date of birth on your CV may cause discrimination or unconscious bias.
• Employers are now actively (or outwardly at least) striving to be more inclusive. However, it is widely reported that ageism is still prevalent - it still exists unfortunately!
• There are also ways in which you can reduce attention to your age, whilst still bringing out aged experience - and if done right, the CV can tick all the boxes.

Marital / familial status and nationality

• In most majority English-speaking countries, we don't include marital / familial status and nationality in CVs. Again, this can cause unconscious or even conscious bias against or for you.
• Your CV should be about whether you can do the job well, not because you fit into the right demographic.

Photograph

In the UK at the very least, it is not the 'done' thing to put a picture on your CV. This is for numerous reasons - read on!

• Again it's largely about unconscious bias - we don't want the reader being either put off (it can happen!) or drawn to you because of your looks - this would be ethically wrong.
• Also, many hiring companies use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to scan CVs. Photos are not ATS-friendly, so they may distort results and negatively affect your selection.
• Photos also take up space on the CV, which you can use to include more relevant information.
• Consider instead uploading photos to LinkedIn, and put a link to that on your CV.

Objective

There are compelling arguments as to why an objective is pretty much obsolete for most CVs - points given below.

• It'll be obvious what your objective is from the types of jobs you go for.
• You'll want to AVOID being too specific and ruling out certain roles, so you'd naturally lean towards a generic statement mentioning, for example, utilisation of your "existing skills in a challenging, exciting new opportunity", or similar.
• So what, therefore, is the point, specifically when this objective is at the top of your CV, the one place where we really want to make the impactful 'proposal' to the reader?
• Your CV is supposed to be about what YOU can offer THEM - not the other way around - you see? If you put an objective, it's more like you asking for something when it should be about showing them why they should snap your hand off!
• The only time Winning CVs considers an Objective section is for younger clients - there's more space and we want to populate the CV with the right keywords.

Tables, Text Boxes, Columns & PDF

• As mentioned previously about pictures, all the above too can impact ATS' ability to parse (read) your CV - so it's best not to include them.
• Did you know that, with many ATS systems, if you put words in a text box, they completely disappear!
• Regarding PDF, only send it in that form if the advert asks for it. Otherwise, use 'Word'.

Bulky Paragraphs

Keep bulky paragraphs to a minimum.

• There's no hard and fast rule but the general, sensible consensus is that you are supposed to be making your CV easy to scan by busy professionals.
• Therefore, ensure that you use bullet points for the roles.
• It's actually good practice to include an intro paragraph prior to each role denoting scope and scale, and company scope and scale if lesser known. However, try to keep this lean.
• Further, for the professional profile, Winning CVs promotes 5 lines as optimal, and all that's needed if done well.

Incorrect grammar / incomplete sentences

• A clear CV without grammatical errors shows your attention to detail, commitment to your career and ability to communicate effectively.
• If you know grammar isn't your best skill, you can use grammar tools, print the CV and read it out loud, and/or ask a family member, friend or mentor to read it.
• If you have the means and choose the right provider, getting your CV professionally written is far and away the best solution - Winning CVs are experts in English grammar.

Negative / unnecessary commentary

Omit negative commentary about previous companies, because you could present as negative or 'trouble'. You could explain how you '...delivered high-quality reports, meeting multiple challenging deadlines', for example, as opposed to describing how disorganised, changeable and disrespectful the company was to your work-life balance! Turn it into a positive.

Further, no need to say 'reason for leaving'. If you do it for one you have to do it for all; it takes up too much space; and you could explain in interview once you get there. Winning CVs believes in 'Never complain, never explain' (a bit like the royals) - you don't want to seem defensive.

Untidy formatting

• For the perfect CV, eliminate all discrepancies - try to keep it one font type and uniform font size. You can use different sizes for headings and your name of course.
• Make sure all line spaces are similar too.
• Further (a pet hate of Winning CVs), make sure there's no single words hanging over lines - fun fact for wordy nerds: these are called 'Widows'!
• While smaller font sizes may allow you to incorporate more items, ensure to use a size that people can read comfortably - Winning CVs only uses font 11 these days.

Hobbies and interests

This is a controversial topic! To include or not to include!

• For: Your hobbies are relevant to the job / your hobbies can demonstrate skills such as teamwork & team leadership - e.g., captaining a football team.
• Against: You may (in an ideal world) have little space, plus you should be hired based on your ability to do the job, not that you share a favourite past-time with the boss!
• Winning CVs' usual conclusion is no to hobbies and interests, with some exceptions - relevant hobbies / skills involved, or young candidates that have the space.

Conclusion

An example of a bad CV could be one peppered with tables, columns and text boxes, with a photo, age, nationality, bulky paragraphs all over the place, no bullet points and messy formatting! It would have a space-wasting objective and irrelevant hobbies, and not enough relevant information about the value you brought the role.

The pitfalls are many - much of the time people can navigate these effectively, but are you sure you're selling yourself effectively? It's normal for senior people to get to a point with their CV whereby they really don't know what to do to optimise it. When in doubt, seek the support and input of a professional CV writing service. Consider calling Winning CVs to transform your future.