What you don’t include on your CV can be just as important as what you do. We’ve rounded up 5 common things we've seen on CVs recently that should just be left out. Your birth date Your birth date Luckily, the vast majority of employers won’t let their hiring decisions be influenced by age, but it’s better to be on the safe side and not share your birthday.
You may think that age discrimination does not apply to your age group, but as age should not be considered in hiring process there is no need for you to add it. This will ensure you are considered for the job based on the relevance of your skills rather than whether the employer vibes with your star sign.
Outdated jobs Outdated jobs This one is a bit more circumstantial than the others. If you’re applying for your second job ever, skip to the next section because you should definitely include all your work experience. But if you’re somebody who has heaps of jobs under their belt, listen up! Put yourselves in the shoes of a hiring manager looking at an application for a graduate accounting role, would you be interested in hearing about experience delivering newspapers back in 2017? Probably not. Keep the work experience section of your CV filled with 2-3 of your most recent jobs that have you given relevant skills for your new role.
Headshots Headshots For those not in showbiz, headshots are professional portrait pictures showing off your beautiful face. As nice as it would be, most of us aren't pursuing careers in modelling or acting, so leave the headshots for LinkedIn. They not only unnecessarily take up space on your CV, but they can also allow for bias to creep in.
Hobbies Hobbies Are you a pro with the unicycle? That's pretty cool, but it's not crucial info for a hiring manager. Unless the hiring manager coincidentally has the same interests as you, including your hobbies needlessly takes up valuable space.
The only exception for this is if your hobby is relevant to the role, such as having photography as a hobby when applying as a social media manager. If the hobby isn’t relevant to the role, leave it for a chat in the break room when you get the job!
Embellishments Embellishments Obviously straight-up lies are a no, but even “embellishing” the truth is a bad idea. Dishonesty about your skills and experience is not only unethical, but you're also setting yourself up for failure.
A big one that is seen quite often is when it comes to how good people say they are at Excel. Only knowing how to use the SUM function does not equal proficiency, and you’ll quickly realise you’re in over your head if you exaggerate this on your CV when you’re asked to use Excel daily because your employer thinks you can handle it. So, do yourself a favour and be honest about your skill level! Your employer will appreciate it and will be happy to teach you how to upskill!