Trawling through CVs is painstaking enough - here are some CV habits that make it worse.

1. Including a photo when it hasn’t been requested

Photographs are distracting and give away information that shouldn’t be taken into account, such as age, race and ethnicity. This makes life harder for people reviewing the CV.

In fact, Holly Paul (National Recruiting Leader from PricewaterHouseCoopers) won’t use these CVs.

2. Having a childish email address

For personal use, your email address can be as whacky as you want, but once you enter the working world, it should basically just be your name. Anything else looks unprofessional.

3. Printing a CV on coloured paper

I’m sure you’ll agree that text on coloured paper is difficult to read. Fortunately, it’s not as common place anymore, since most CVs are submitted online. 

4. Including irrelevant hobbies

Often people add a quirky interest, thinking it’ll give them a bit of edge. Most of the time they’re irrelevant and takes up valuable space. We’d rather hear about something else - causes they support

5. Addressing it to the wrong company!

Many CVs' openings are spent professing an enthusiasm for the role and company – at least back it up by getting the company name right!

These are my pet peeves, but I’m sure that you have plenty more to add to that list!

By Tirebuck Recruitment.

Tirebuck Recruitment is a recruitment company in Solihull. They specialise in rcruiting office staff for local businesses.