Your CV is a virtual representation of you and your professional experience – a first impression before the first impression almost. So, while you need to include the most relevant and important details on your curriculum vitae, there are certain aspects you should consider leaving off it too. At Lucid Connect, we have over 100+ years’ experience in the game… as you can imagine, we have seen our fair share of CV’s, therefore, we have come together and listed 5 things you should remove off your CV today.

Anything you have stated on your CV can be verified and checked against you. This means that if you are not factually accurate or exaggerated the truth, your new employer can find out and this could be grounds for immediate dismissal. Untruths can come in several forms, such as giving false information about your previous employment, dates of employment, exaggerating your job title/duties and providing the wrong level of education. All these factors can go against you once you are under new management and they do some research. Best thing to do? Always tell the truth and be honest.

The typical hiring manager, dependent on the live role, can read anywhere between 5-50 CVs in a day, and as much as you should be impressing them with your skills, don’t counteract that by confusing them with your terminology. We will advise you switch up the synonyms every couple paragraph’s if you find yourself using ‘success’ excessively by using words that nor you or they would understand day to day. It will put the hiring manager off and you potentially risk losing out on the opportunity. Keep your CV simple, clear, and concise.

Our only exception to this rule would be your LinkedIn profile, as that is something professional and public anyway. It is good to feature or attach a link on your CV to demonstrate there is more to your experience than just what is on this piece of paper. Additionally, LinkedIn has some great elements that allows you to highlight some of your best achievements, such as the ‘featured’ section, a large section for a personal profile and a list for your accreditations and licenses. However, anything personal like age, home address or a picture of yourself opens the door to bias and potential discrimination. A lot of the time it can take up valuable space that could be used to elaborate on your career achievements.

Throughout reading your whole CV, the hiring manager will be making their decision on whether you could be the right fit for the role or not. This includes the skills you have developed within your career. So, if there is a particular role that is not quite necessary, be sure to remove it and make some extra space for your most recent experience and key achievements. Keeping your CV to 2-3 pages is also considered the ‘right’ length, anymore than that and the hiring manager may deem it ‘waffling’ or unnecessary information.

Once upon a time, it would be good to include your hobbies and interests onto your CV, but today, it can benefit you more to remove it. It’s a nice to know but it has very little detail or relevance about your key competencies and achievements. Other elements you can consider removing from your CV are things like reference details, ‘references upon request’ and your current salary. These are aspects that will be spoken about with the hiring manager in due course. For the moment, you want your experience and achievements to really shine and bring your CV to life.

Lucid Connect is dedicated to executive search and permanent recruitment. We are passionate about connecting talented technology professionals with modern and ambitious companies. If you wish to discuss any of our current vacancies or learn more about industry trends and insight, please reach out to our experienced team on www.lucid-connect.com / info@lucid-connect.com.

Written by Lucid Connect