Top 20 Words Recruiter Never Wants to See on Your CV

You want a recruiter to do everything they can to find you a new position so you need to make sure that they read your CV and are pleased with what they are reading.

Writing a CV is very important so should be done very carefully. Employers takes only a couple of seconds to check your CV.

Below are some of the words that a recruiter would not want to find on your CV.

#1 Hard working

Are you hard working or do you feel this has to be on your CV? How can you demonstrate being hard working? Hard working needs to be used in the right context so that it doesn’t look like it has been plucked out of thin air. Most people feel they are hard working but you need to show how as an example.

#2 Disorganised

If you are disorganised they are not going to want to put you in front of one of their clients. In all jobs there is an element of organisation and if you are not organised it doesn’t bode well for you getting a job done.

#3 Poor timekeeping

If you have been accused of poor timekeeping in the past this is not what a recruiter wants to hear. Poor timekeeping is one of the worst things that you can do as an employee and doesn’t show great loyalty or enthusiasm for a job.

#4 Suspended

If you have been suspended from a previous role and a recruiter sees this on your CV without any explanation they will be reluctant to want to interview you and take things further. Information like this needs to be explained carefully and sensitively and approached in the right way.

#5 Gross Misconduct

Like being suspended, a recruiter will not want to see that you have been dismissed through gross misconduct. It doesn’t look good and not easy to explain to a new employer.

#6 Boring

If you mention something is boring or that you found something boring on your CV it doesn’t sound good and will leave your recruiter feeling that you get bored easily and are unproductive.

#7 Will relocate

If you are happy to relocate but just leave this on your CV it will leave your recruiter with too many questions that they will be thinking it is not worth the effort. They ideally want to see people in the local town who can start straight away.

#8 Good communication skills

If you CV is written well then you could say that you are demonstrating good written communication skills, however you need to use an example of you good communication skills if you have them so a recruiter can see why you feel you have good communication skills.

#9 Results driven

If you feel that you are results driven, show how, give an idea of what results you were expected to meet and how you made these or exceeded these. It will speak a lot louder than you saying that you are results driven.

#10 Effective

Using the word effective doesn’t necessarily mean that a recruiter is going to think you are effective, use an example to demonstrate what you have been effective on or with.

#11 Brilliant

It sounds like you love yourself and that you are hoping your recruiter will too, a definite no.

#12 Successful

Who says that you are successful, not saying that you are not but what has it been bench marked against? Everyone to some degree think they are successful what you need to do is convince your recruiter with evidence.

#13 Outstanding

Outstanding in what? Or your opinion? Be careful using this word in your CV.

#14 Innovative

Innovative in what respect? You would need to describe this with an example so that you are using it in the right context.

#15 Dynamic

Dynamic in what sense? Any recruiter will already have expectations of taking someone on who is enthusiastic and energetic so how can you demonstrate that you are dynamic and have been in previous employment.

#16 Customer focused

If you have done a customer role before and feel you are customer focused make sure that you say that you are customer focused because of doing x, y and z in what
role at what time etc.

#17 Dedicated

Dedicated to what? Any recruiter expects you to be dedicated to your role so what makes certain that you will be dedicated to a new role?

#18 Experienced

What are you experienced in? Don’t just use the word loosely, explain what you are experienced in and how?

#19 Energetic

If you are energetic then good, no one wants to employ someone who isn’t so why the need to state that you are energetic?

#20 Enthusiastic

Everyone expects their employees to be enthusiastic and to bring new life to a company so its a pointless expression to use.

photo by: brice