10 things you must never include in your CV!

A Curriculum Vitae commonly known as a CV or resume is one of the documents that employers request for when they need to hire you. How you write your resume determines 60% of your chances to get hired! I have summarized 10 things you must never include in your resume. Let’s get started below.

1. The bad reasons you left your previous employer

The fact is; 6 of 10 employees quit job due to unfair human resource policies by their bosses. Nevertheless, do not talk about the bad reasons why you left a company! The hiring fellow might think you will obviously come up with an excuse to talk about them in the future if they hire you. This is a threat to company reputation, so better keep off from this lane.

2. Your age or date of birth

Age is just a number! That’s a by-the-way! But, while as your age determines your level of resilience, persistence, hard work, knowledge and experience, you might not need to include it. It might give a first wrong impression.

3. Your hobby and personal interests

I have reviewed CVs of applicants whose interests are in watching movies! You are definitely telling me that you will watch movies at your desk! Here comes this famous proverb! One man’s meet is another man’s poison”. Your interests could be meat to you but poison to the person who would wish to hire you. I hope you are getting the thing.

4. Grammatical mistakes

If you make mistakes in your resume, chances are high that you will make mistakes in your job! Why would someone hire you, to correct your mistakes all the time? Ensure you polish your grammar perfectly. Take note of headings, paragraphs, sentences and spelling of words and their meaning in your resume.

5. Too much information

No one has the time to read a 10 paged resume! For what? Get to the point very first. Summarize every detail about yourself in one or two pages. Don’t allow your resume to go beyond four pages even if you have three bachelors, a hundred certificates and 35 years of presidential experience.

6. Inaccurate information

There are times I have phone called referees on CVs I have received and the response has been “I do not know that person”. Never provide a referee who is not able to defend you. Also, provide accurate information. Be true. Do not include skills you do not have because you want to impress the person hiring. You will be wasting your time and fuel to the interview venue.

7. Personal details

An employer does not need to know your origin, clan and things like I am a son or daughter to so and so. That worked way back. Please do not include details of your parents and siblings. You are not applying for citizenship in Uganda. I should stop here on this.

8. Funny fonts

Why use more than two font styles? You are not designing a poster! Don’t make your CV too irritating to look at. Use One font type, same font size or may be bold the headings and sub-headings with slightly a bigger font size. Simple!

9. Unprofessional email

Why would you start looking for a job if your email address is izaac1829282@gmail.com? That’s unprofessional. Open a commendable email such as izaac@gmail.com. Another thing is, never use your other nick names or names that are not yours in the email in your CV.

10. Salary expectation

Salary Expectation; Do not include your salary expectation although Ugandan interviewers love asking about it. You might under cost yourself or scare off the employer if you charge them highly than they can afford. I always tell employers to let me know how much they can be willing to pay me. If it’s a good deal, we seal it.