Looking for a new job? Make sure your CV is mistake-free, says Dragons’ Den star Piers Linney – because prospective employers will spend less than NINE seconds looking at it

They say first impressions count, and perhaps never is that more true than with job interviews.

But it’s all changing. “The process of reviewing CVs has become almost ‘Tinderised’,” explains Piers Linney, Dragons’ Den star and co-CEO of Cloud Service Provider Outsourcery, who’s part of a study of recruitment by the new National Citizen Service, the country's flagship personal and social development programme for 15-17-year-olds.

“Employers have less time than ever to review applications, with each CV given just a few seconds to stand out against the competition, before being kept or cast aside.”

Less than nine seconds on average, in fact, with half of employers surveyed admitting they can assess whether a CV should be tossed aside in a mere fleeting six seconds.

Here are the top seven CV mistakes you might want to avoid.

  • Bad grammar – listed as the top gripe for potential employers. “Poor grammar on a CV is one of the deciding factors as to whether or not employers read on”, notes Michael Lynas, CEO of NCS Trust. “Mistakes show that the candidate hasn't spent their time crafting a professional CV.”
  • Spelling mistakes – not far behind bad grammar comes bad spelling. “They show that the person hasn”t taken the time to read over their own CV,” says Lynas.
  • Poor formatting – simple is best, Lynas points out. “Make your CV easy to read, with simple bullet points highlighting key skills and experience. Prioritise the important information at the top, in order to catch the eye of the employer; if they like what they see, they will read more.”
  • Too long – two pages maximum: a CV that’s too long is daunting to read.
  • Use of jargon – “slotting in jargon can ruin the flow of sentences, and it also becomes transparent that you’re just trying to use words to make yourself seem like you know more than you do,” Lynas stresses.
  • Unusual font style – don't try to be too clever here. NCS research shows that employers prefer Arial size 11, “so stick with the tried and tested font”.