CVs with wrong information on it

 There is nothing new about how important your CV is on a job interview. This is not an original topic at all. However, I am afraid we still need to talk about it. As a Recruiter, I see terrible CVs on daily bases. This document can affect the image you give as a candidate and even eliminate you from the recruitment process.

A good interview should go beyond the text written on your CV. But the CV could be a starting point for the interview, or maybe the Recruiter might want to talk about it or about some specific aspect of your curriculum at certain point of the interview. The CV is a document that you present to the company you are applying for, so you should take it seriously.

I have seen thousands of CVs every month at work. Some were normal; some made me feel impressed; some had very unique pictures; some were so short that it seems that the candidate took literally three minutes to write it; and some had so many spelling mistakes that I could barely understand what was written on the paragraph.

There are many websites already talking about how to write a good CV, and sharing helpful tips. At the end, you are free to choose how to create your CV. There is not only one correct way to do it. But my point is: which impression do you give to the Recruiter when you present your CV? It doesn´t matter how you format your CV and which information you decide to write on it: the CV is a document that represents you and it will cause an impression on the Recruiter.

During the interview, keep a copy of your CV printed on your hands. A similar idea works also for Skype interviews: you can have your CV open in one-half side of your computer screen and the Skype open on the other half. It is very confusing for the Recruiter when the candidate say some information that is different from what he had written on the CV.

Let´s imagine the Recruiter asks you how long you worked for the company “X”, which is listed on your CV. You reply three years, but on the CV, you had written only one year. Giving a different reply to the Recruiter than the one on your CV can mean two different things:

You are not telling the truth in person or by Skype to the Recruiter now, or you were not telling the truth when you wrote your CV.

Maybe this interview is not “that important” to you, because you didn´t take the time to review your document before presenting it.

In any case, those two situations won´t make you look good at all during the interview. It´s better do not risk, take the time to review your CV, and have a copy of it in front of you.

If you have written one thing on your CV, and now you are telling a different story to the Recruiter, your interview will probably take longer than it was planned to last. The Recruiter might need to write down or make notes about the different information you are adding, or correct the dates on the file, or also do any other adjustment on your document that will increase the interview time.

In general, Recruiters have a busy interview agenda, sometimes even with one candidate scheduled for interview right after the other. Loosing time because the information you are giving is contradictory can cause some delay on the daily interview agenda. Maybe this unplanned delay will create the feeling to the Recruiter that the interview is a waste of time. If the candidate didn´t care and worked on his CV, why should the Recruiter spend his time with this person? Yes, it can be cruel, but that´s the reality.

You can be a good candidate, but if you create doubts on the Recruiter´s mind during the interview due to inconsistent information, you are playing against yourself. The Recruiter needs to make a decision about giving you a job or not, and there is a chance he won´t be comfortable giving you the job if he has doubts about you. Try to minimize the chances of creating hesitation in the Recruiter´s mind.

Let the Recruiter doubt only about things like “Candidate A has more work experience then candidate B, but candidate B can speak Chinese and candidate A can´t, so which one should I choose?”. Do not add unnecessary vacillation in the recruitment process, especially about if you are a trustable person or not. Doubts like this could lead to stop your process soon.

If you have to do last minute changes on your CV for any reason, please make sure you mention that as soon as possible to the Recruiter, ideally at the beginning of the interview. You can also have an extra copy of your CV for the Recruiter, so he will be able to conduct the process having the updated information in hands. You might also want to have the new version on a file that can you send by e-mail immediately, so the Recruiter can open it even before the interview begins.

The CV is something you can prepare before the interview and take all the time you need to show the best version of you. Go for a real, objective and professional way to reflected that. It can only help you on your recruitment process.

Do your best and go ahead!

As you know, English is not my native language. I use it because I can reach more people and share my experience with you. Feel free to visit my blog at julianarabbi.blogspot.com and find more articles and videos.

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