The Five Things That Make Me Reject a CV in Under Ten Seconds

I review about 50 CVs a day. Sometimes more. I don't read them in detail — not at first. I scan them. And there are a handful of things that make me move to the next one almost immediately. I'm not proud of how fast these judgements happen. But they do. So you might as well know what triggers them.

1. A two-page career summary at the top

Nobody reads these. A four-line paragraph about being a "dynamic results-driven professional with a passion for excellence" tells me nothing. It's filler. It takes up space that could be used for actual information. One or two lines, max. What you do, at what level, in what industry. Done.

2. No dates

If your work experience doesn't have months and years, I assume you're hiding gaps. Maybe you're not. But that's the assumption. And assumptions aren't good when I've got 49 other CVs to look at.

3. Unexplained job-hopping

Three roles in three years can be fine. Sometimes companies restructure, contracts end, things happen. But if you don't provide any context, it looks like you can't commit. A small note — "company acquisition," "contract role," "relocated" — makes a huge difference.

4. Generic applications

I can tell when someone has sent the same CV to fifty companies. The objective mentions a different industry. The cover letter references a competitor's product. The skills section is a laundry list of everything they've ever touched. Tailor it. Even slightly. It takes ten minutes and it's the difference between being considered and being binned.

5. Typos in the first three lines

If there's a spelling mistake in your name, contact details, or opening sentence, I'm done. Not because I'm cruel — because attention to detail matters in every role I recruit for, and your CV is your first work product. I know this sounds harsh. It probably is. But the volume is real and the time is limited. Making your CV easy to scan is the single most impactful thing you can do for your job search.

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