Nine out of 10 online CVs reveal multiple spelling errors. Don’t be that sloppy job applicant, warns Elliott Kime in London.
The majority of CVs contain basic spelling and grammar errors, a large-scale study in the UK has revealed, with the most common blunder being unnecessary apostrophes added.
A review of 20,000 CVs submitted online found that nine in 10 of them had misspelt words, with only 1,134 fault- free. A glaring five or more errors were discovered in 12,666 of those looked at.
The adding of an apostrophe where people listed their GCSE results was written into 691 CVs, the analysis by recruitment search engine Adzuna.co.uk revealed, as people kept referring to their “GCSE’s”.
The grammatical mistake, which indicates someone or something’s possession of another, also affected KPIs – key performance indicators – 403 times, when used to describe previous employment successes.
“A-levels” also frequently fell foul of the rule.
Words that are meant to highlight a prospective employee’s skills and aptitudes were often misspelt.
“Experience” became “Experiance” 62 times, with “Responsibilities” and ’Professional’ following with 60 and 53 errors respectively.
“Liaising” and “Strategising” completed the top five misspelled words found on CVs uploaded to the website’s in-house analysis tool.
Andrew Huntley, co-founder of adzuna.co.uk, said: “Employers may be put off by amateur CV errors like adding in rogue apostrophes. They suggest a jobseeker lacking soft skills such as attention to detail.”
The data also reveals that women show greater diligence than men, with 8% of women’s CVs declared to be flawless compared with 6% of men’s. And regional variations suggest that Yorkshire had the most accurate CVs, with 13% error free. – © Telegraph Media Group Limited 2019