There are few things worse than submitting your CV to a load of jobs only to realise you’d missed a spelling error.
If you’ve done this, you’re definitely not alone. People misspell words on their CV all the time and, so long as you’re not applying to be some kind of writer, it’s usually not the end of the world.
That being said, it’s good practice to make sure your spelling and grammar are to a high standard – after all, your CV is the first indication of your competency for your potential employer.
That’s why Preply, an online learning platform, has revealed the most commonly misspelt words on people’s resumes by using Google search volumes for the term ‘how to spell [insert word here].’
‘Experienced’ is at the top of the list – commonly spelled as ‘experianced,’ according to the data – followed by ‘successful’ and ‘counselled’.
The most commonly misspelt words on CVs
- Experienced as experianced
- Successful as sucessful
- Counselled as counsiled
- Professional as profesional
- Responsible as responsable
- Behaviour as behavior
- Judgement as judgment
- Focused as focussed
- Achieved as acheved
- Independent as independant
- Succeeded as suceeded
- Management as mangement
- Confident as confidant
- Educated as educatied
- Taught as tought
The company also analysed the most used phrases on people’s resumés on Indeed’s CV library.
It found that ‘skilled’ is the most overused word by job hunters on their CVs, featuring in over 2,183,414 resumes in the UK in the last six months, meanwhile, 20,576 job hunters have noted their ‘good sense of humour’ on their CV in the last six months.
‘Trained’, ‘organised’, and ‘educated’, come next, appearing on 3,270,812 CVs combined.
Despite not ranking among the top 20, over 73,000 candidates have included the description of ‘fun’ and over 20,000 job hunters have stated that they have a ‘good sense of humour’ on their CV in the last six months.
Top 20 buzzwords people put on their CV
Here are the 20 most common words people used to describe themselves on their CVs, and how often they occur.
- Skilled – 2,183,414
- Responsible – 1,305,845
- Trained – 1,285,023
- Organised – 1,105,723
- Educated – 880,066
- Informed – 735,911
- Motivated – 713,037
- Social – 617,333
- Confident – 573,617
- Adaptable – 499,186
- Reliable – 498,112
- Friendly – 446,916
- Independent – 423,750
- Leader – 409,134
- Hard-working – 395,140
- Enthusiastic – 318,644
- Successful – 309,776
- Experienced – 302,242
- Team player – 293,406
- Creative – 288,070
How to use the right language to make your CV stand out
Writing CVs and, god forbid, cover letters can be a pain in the neck: you want to sound professional, but not generically so, and still somehow get your personality across. Here’s how.
Start your sentences with action verbs
‘Front-load your sentences so the most important piece of information is at the start and is introduced using a dynamic verb,’ says Yolanda del Peso, marketing specialist at Preply.
‘For example, “answered customer complaints” might become “managed customer complaints”.’
Omit personal pronouns
Yolanda suggests avoiding the use of ‘I’ and ‘we’.
‘This will make your resume sound more scientific and factual,’ she says.
‘For example, “I lectured every week” might become “Lectured weekly to a 30-strong student cohort”.’
Use the language of the job description
Tailoring your CV, as annoying as it is, is a good way to show a hiring manager that you really want this role.
That’s why Yolanda suggests stealing words and terms from the job description to show you’ve actually read it.
She says: ‘Adapt your resume for every job role and try to incorporate specific words and phrases from the job advertisement you are applying for the best chance of success.’
Give specific evidence of your skills and achievements
‘To back up your claims give clear, specific, and relevant evidence,’ says Yolanda.
‘Where possible try to quantify achievements.
‘For example, change “Developed a large Twitter presence” to “Grew Twitter account by 3k followers in Q2”.’
Avoid unnecessary adjectives
Clear and concise is the way to go when it comes to applying for jobs – don’t make reading through your resume feel like a chore, or waste of time.
‘Keep it simple and try not to use unnecessary adjectives or adverbs,’ says Yolanda.
‘For example, “skillfully negotiated contracts” would become “negotiated contracts”.’
Thoroughly check for spelling and grammar errors
Finally, make sure you check your spelling and grammar.
‘Formatting and grammatical errors can be the difference between success and failure,’ says Yolanda.
‘Make sure you check your resume at least twice, and if possible ask someone else to review it before you submit it.’
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