CV Mistakes to Avoid: 20 Common Errors and Their Fixes

Twenty common CV mistakes in content, format, language, targeting and honesty, with a practical, sourced fix for each one before you apply.

Employers receive many CVs and have to decide quickly whom to interview, as the UK's National Careers Service points out. In a 2018 eye-tracking study by the careers site Ladders, recruiters' average initial screen of a CV lasted 7.4 seconds. That first look is not the final decision, but it explains why small mistakes cost you attention.

This guide groups 20 common mistakes into five families (content, format, language, targeting and honesty) and gives a fix for each. Keep your CV open and work through them in order.

Content mistakes

1. Listing duties instead of results

A list of responsibilities describes the job, not what you achieved in it. A 2024 SHRM article makes the point that claiming a skill is not enough; you need to show how you used it. The Ladders study also recommended short, direct sentences that list accomplishments rather than long paragraphs.

Fix: write each bullet as action + task + result.

Before: "Responsible for the company's social media accounts."

After (hypothetical example): "Planned a weekly content calendar for 3 channels and grew monthly enquiries by [your real figure] in 12 months."

Use only results you can support. If you have no figure, describe the scale or the outcome instead.

2. Adjectives without evidence

Words such as "team player", "hard-working" and "multitasker" appear on so many CVs that they say little. Prospects advises replacing over-used phrases like these with real examples that demonstrate the skill.

Fix: delete adjectives you cannot prove and let your bullets show them. A bullet about coordinating work across 3 departments says "team player" better than the phrase does.

3. Irrelevant, outdated or wasted lines

The SHRM article reports a shift away from listing every job toward including only relevant experience. Prospects suggests deleting anything unrelated to the role and summarising detail from around ten years ago or more. The same goes for "references available on request": Prospects notes that most employers assume it, and the National Careers Service advises against putting a referee's contact details on your CV.

Fix: for every line, ask whether it helps this application. If it does not, cut it or shorten it.

4. A generic objective instead of a profile

A line such as "Seeking a challenging role in a growing company" tells the reader nothing new. The SHRM article describes a move away from objective statements toward short summaries or profile sections that set out skills, relevant experience and career goals.

Fix: write two or three lines that name your field and level, your strongest relevant skills and one piece of evidence. See how to write a CV summary.

5. Gaps with no explanation

The National Careers Service says a gap in your CV is not a problem in itself, but you may be asked about it, so be open and ready to explain. Harvard Business School research shows why silence does not help: automated filters cannot tell why a gap happened. Prospects suggests briefly stating the reason, with dates, in the relevant section.

Fix: add one honest line, for example: "Career break, 2023–2024: full-time care for a family member; completed an online data-analysis course." A filter set on dates will still see the gap, but the person reading your CV will see the reason.

Format mistakes

6. Too long, or squeezed to look short

In Prospects' guide, the University of Chester's careers team recommends keeping a CV to two A4 pages at most, while noting that some academic, medical and senior CVs run longer. Shrinking the text to fit is not the answer: the National Careers Service recommends a font size of 11 or larger, and Prospects suggests 10 to 12.

Fix: cut weaker bullets and older detail before you touch font size or margins.

7. Cluttered or inconsistent layout

In the Ladders study, the weakest CVs had cluttered layouts with long sentences, multiple columns and little white space. Harvard's career centre lists a CV that is not well organised or easy to skim among its top five resume mistakes, and advises consistent spacing and emphasis throughout.

Fix: use one font family, one bullet style and one date format, and align dates and headings the same way throughout.

8. Design elements that software cannot read

UK government advice on applicant tracking systems warns that pictures, tables and diagrams are harder for an ATS to read.

Fix: keep the CV you send through online portals simple and single-column. Our guide to ATS-friendly CVs explains why.

9. The wrong file type or a careless file name

Prospects advises checking which file type the advert asks for and naming the file so that it identifies you. MIT's career office adds that you should use the requested type even when a portal accepts others.

Fix: save in the requested format and name the file after yourself, for example "Firstname-Lastname-CV".

10. Personal details that do not fit the country, or put you at risk

Conventions differ. UK government advice says not to include your age, date of birth, marital status or nationality, and Prospects says a photo is unnecessary unless you are applying for acting or modelling work. Expectations across the Arab world vary by country; see our guides for the Gulf, Egypt and the Levant and the Maghreb. Prospects also recommends a professional email address and warns against including your home address when you post your CV online, because of fraudsters.

Fix: follow the convention of the country you are applying in, use a simple email address based on your name, and check your phone number digit by digit.

Language mistakes

11. Spelling and grammar errors

The National Careers Service suggests asking someone else to check your spelling and grammar. UK JobHelp adds a technical reason: an ATS may not pick up a keyword if it is misspelt.

Fix: run a spell-check, read the CV aloud, then ask someone else to read it.

12. Passive or vague wording

Prospects recommends active verbs such as "created", "analysed" and "devised". MIT advises cutting vague words such as "various", "multiple", "several" and "etc.", which can hide the specific terms an employer is looking for.

Fix: start every bullet with a verb and replace vague quantities with specifics.

13. Writing in the first person

Harvard's guide lists personal pronouns such as "I" and "we" among its don'ts.

Fix: write bullets as short phrases that begin with a verb: "Led…", "Reduced…", "Trained…".

14. Jargon and unexplained abbreviations

Internal terms and abbreviations may mean nothing outside your organisation. MIT suggests translating niche jargon into the language of the job posting, and LSE Careers advises writing a qualification in full the first time, with the abbreviation in brackets.

Fix: write "Project Management Professional (PMP)", not "PMP" alone.

Targeting mistakes

15. Sending the same CV everywhere

The National Careers Service advises writing your CV to match the job and the company, and LSE Careers says every CV should be tailored to each job description.

Fix: keep a master CV with everything in it, then adapt a copy for each application.

16. Ignoring the advert's words and criteria

According to the National Careers Service, a job advert usually includes the job description, the essential criteria and company details. UK JobHelp advises using the advert's key words in your CV, and the SHRM article shows why wording matters: a system searching for "client services" may not pick up "customer services".

Fix: list the essential criteria, then point each one to evidence on your CV, using the employer's term where it is accurate.

17. Burying your most relevant experience

The Ladders study found that recruiters skim CVs for details such as layout, job titles, text flow and keywords. Prospects advises putting work experience before education when you have plenty that is relevant.

Fix: make the top half of page one carry your strongest evidence for this role.

Honesty mistakes

18. Exaggerating skills or stuffing keywords

Prospects warns against exaggerating your abilities, because you will need to back up your claims at interview. MIT advises against filling a CV with keywords, since you must be able to account for everything on it.

Fix: for every skill you list, make sure you can give a real example.

19. Inflating titles, dates or qualifications

Prospects is direct: do not lie or exaggerate on your CV. It notes that in the UK, altering a degree grade counts as degree fraud, and MIT describes falsifying application materials as a legal and ethical breach that can remove you from consideration. Credentials can be checked at source: Saudi Arabia's health regulator, for example, verifies certificates issued outside the Kingdom with the body that issued them.

Fix: use your real titles and dates. If an internal title is unusual, keep it and explain the role in the first bullet.

20. Letting AI write it without checking

AI tools can help you edit, but Harvard's guidance says generative AI should not be the primary author, partly because its output tends to be generic.

Fix: start from your own facts, use AI to improve the wording, and check every date, name and number. See using AI to write your CV without inventing anything.

A five-minute final check

How Tabhar helps

Tabhar's CV builder shows the printed page as you edit, with many professional templates, and changing template never changes your content. The free ATS checker runs rule-based checks on contact details, content, format and keywords, and gives a fix for each check that fails.

On paid plans, AI writing help can improve, shorten, expand or rewrite a section or a bullet. Suggestions appear as before and after, and nothing changes until you accept them. The AI's edit tools cannot change your contact details, dates, or employer and school names, and any number in a suggestion that is not in your CV is flagged. See plans.

Related reading

• How applicant tracking systems read a CV
• Writing the CV summary, with examples
• Using AI to write your CV without inventing anything

Sources