We have so many jobs on at the moment that this is the busiest August we have seen as a company. No complaints there of course! We had already taken the decision to recruit a Graduate Trainee for AV Jobs and I thought I should share some of the issues we have seen – particularly from Graduate applications, but often from others too.
The number of times I have seen an application to a job where an applicant has clearly done a cut and paste job and not made it relevant to the job they are applying for – too many to count! Some examples just from today:
Applying for a Graduate Trainee Recruitment Consultant role:
I am an extremely responsible youth willing to accept position to gain experience within a realm of retail-banking customer services.
I am looking to further my knowledge within accounting or information systems.
Dear Miss Baker (we don’t have a Miss Baker!)
So not a good start.
Spelling mistakes – too numerous to mention. If you’re not a great speller then Spellchecker won’t always help as the spelling may be right but for a different word in a different context – so get someone who is good with words to check your CV before you send it.
Examples: There and their. Roll instead of Role. Loose instead of lose.
Affect and effect – affect is a verb as in “Your ability to communicate clearly will affect your income immensely.” Effect is a noun as in “The effect of global warming is immeasurable.” You can’t put a “the” in front of a verb so this should help you decide which word you need.
Grammatical errors – now here I do accept that I am a big fan of Lynne Truss (Eats, Shoots and Leaves) and have even been called pedantic (moi?) but I do believe people should get these things right in something as important as a job application.
The apostrophe! There when it shouldn’t be and not there when it should. The apostrophe is a raised comma ‘ – it is used to show possession or contraction e.g. The dog’s tail (possession), it’s a lovely day (contraction).
Common misuses – It’s and its – It’s is a contraction of “it is” as in “it’s lovely and warm today”. Its is a possessive pronoun as in “the car has lost its shine”. An easy rule of thumb is to say your sentence out loud using it is and if this sounds ridiculous then use its (no apostrophe).
Your and you’re – again your is a possessive pronoun as in “your wife”, you’re is a contraction of “you are” as in “you’re messing up your CV if you use your when you really mean you are!”
It’s often incorrectly used when the word is a plural – job’s instead of jobs.
Using text speak in your letter or CV – this is fine when you are sending a text or emailing friends but has no place in business correspondence.
“i am sending u my cv 4 the job ad on AV Jobs ref AV8777.”
“I am sending you my CV regarding the job advertised on AV Jobs – Ref.AV8777″.
So end of rant – but I promise if you take more care with your CV and covering letter (if you enclose one) you will not fall at the first hurdle. Just take more time in reviewing what you have written and get someone else to check too.
What do you think?