5 CV Mistakes That Are Costing You Interviews
A strong CV is often the only thing standing between you and an interview. Many qualified candidates are turned away not because they lack the skills, but because of small, avoidable mistakes in how their CV is written. Here are five of the most common ones — and how to fix them.
1. Cramming everything onto one page (or letting it run to five)
Length matters, but not in the way most people think. A CV that's too short often looks thin on detail, while one that's too long buries the good parts under too much information. For most job seekers, one to two pages is the right range — three at most if you have a long, senior career behind you.
The fix isn't just deleting content; it's prioritising. Keep the roles and achievements most relevant to the job you're applying for near the top. A retail job from ten years ago that has nothing to do with the role you want now can usually be shortened to a single line, or dropped altogether. Use consistent spacing and margins throughout — a CV that looks cramped or unevenly formatted signals carelessness before an employer has read a single word.
2. Using a generic objective statement
Lines like "Hardworking individual seeking a challenging position" tell an employer nothing about you, and they've read the same sentence a hundred times. A better approach is a short, specific summary at the top of your CV — two to three sentences stating who you are professionally, your strongest skills, and what kind of role you're looking for.
For example: "Administrative professional with 4 years' experience supporting office operations, procurement, and scheduling for teams of 15+. Looking to bring that experience to a fast-paced operations role." That tells an employer far more in the same space, and it's easy to adjust the last sentence for each job you apply to.
3. Listing duties instead of achievements
"Responsible for managing stock" describes a task. "Reduced stock wastage by 18% by reorganising the inventory system" describes an achievement. Employers want to see the difference you made, not just what you were assigned to do.
You don't need a big, dramatic result to do this well. Small, honest specifics work: "Trained two new starters on the point-of-sale system" is more convincing than "Trained staff." If you genuinely don't have a number to attach, describe the outcome instead of the activity — what changed because you did the work.
4. Ignoring the job description
Many employers — and the software some of them use to screen applications before a human sees them — look for specific skills and keywords mentioned in the job advert. Sending the same generic CV to every job means missing easy chances to show you're a direct fit.
Before each application, read the advert and underline the 4–5 skills or requirements it repeats or emphasises. Make sure your CV uses that same language somewhere, assuming you genuinely have that skill or experience — don't just copy words you can't back up in an interview.
5. Not proofreading
Spelling errors, inconsistent formatting, and outdated contact details are small things that create a big impression — the wrong one. A CV that still lists an old phone number, or switches between two date formats halfway through, suggests the document was rushed.
Read it slowly out loud — this catches awkward phrasing spellcheck misses. Then, if possible, ask someone else to look it over with fresh eyes; a second reader almost always spots something you've read past a dozen times without noticing.
Fixing even two or three of these can make a real difference in how many interviews you get. If you'd like help putting together a CV that gives you the best chance, ENB Enterprise's CV writing service is built exactly for that.
Want a CV that actually gets you interviews?
ENB Enterprise's CV writing service helps you turn your experience into a CV employers notice. Get in touch and let's get started.
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