Average CV has basic spelling mistakes
Most CVs contain spelling errors, study reveals, with misplaced apostrophes the most common mistake
The majority of CVs contain basic spelling and grammar errors, a large scale study has revealed, with the most common blunder being unnecessary apostrophes added to “GCSEs.”A review of 20,000 CVs submitted online found that nine in ten of them had misspelled words, with only 1,134 fault free.
A glaring five or more errors were discovered in 12,666 of those looked at. Yet ironically, the worst offender cropped up time and time again.
The adding of an apostrophe where people listed their GCSE results was written into 691 CVs, the analysis by recruitment search engine Adzuna.co.uk revealed, as people kept referring to their "GCSE's".
This fatal grammatical mistake, which indicates someone or something’s possession of another, also affected KPIs - Key Performance Indicators - 403 times, when used to describe their previous employment successes.
‘A Levels’ is another victim of this basic rule, but the blunders do not stop at apostrophes. Amazingly they also engulf those words which are meant to best promote the prospective employee’s many skills and aptitudes.
‘Experience’ became ‘Experiance’ 62 times, with ‘Responsibilities’ and ‘Professional’ following closely behind with 60 and 53 errors respectively. ‘Liaising’ and ‘Strategising’ completed the Top 5 line-up of misspelled words found on CVs uploaded to website's in-house résumé analysis tool.
Andrew Huntley, co-founder of adzuna.co.uk, said: "Employers may be put-off by amateur CV errors like adding in rogue apostrophes. They suggest a jobseeker lacking soft skills such as attention to detail.
"When spellcheck and CV screening tools are easily accessible, there really is no excuse for error-riddled documents."
Adzuna, who supply real-time data to the Government’s No.10 jobs dashboard, analysed CVs on its ValueMyCV tool online, where users are given an estimation of how much their skills and experience is worth to potential employers.
The evaluation tool includes a specially designed automated spell checker which guides jobseeker’s through high risk and low risk spelling errors in their job applications.
Americanisms were also rife, with misspellings such as ‘organization’, ‘specialized’, ‘centre’ and ‘humor’ cropping up repeatedly.
The data also reveals that women pay greater due diligence than men, with 8% of female CVs being declared ‘flawless’ compared with just 6% of men.
Regional variations also suggest that jobseekers in Northern Ireland are most likely to have typos littered across on their CV with just 3.7% of CVs proving flawless. On the other hand, Yorkshire can boast having the most accurate CVs with 13% proving error free, closely followed by job hunters in North East England (9.9%), London (6%) and Scotland (7%).
Northern Ireland’s unemployment is currently the highest nationally, while Yorkshire, London and Scotland’s are among the lowest. Overall, the UK currently has the lowest unemployment figures since 1975 with 1.38 million people looking for work nationally.
Adzuna, founded in 2011 by former eBay and Zoopla executives, was awarded a coveted contract to run the British government’s most used online services, Find a job, in 2018. It has one of the largest free job search functions on the web.
"A good CV should succinctly show off employment history, education and key skills, but it should also be flaw free. Our advice to jobseekers is to triple check spelling and grammar if you want to proceed to the interview stage," Mr Hunter said, underlining the importance of "highlighting any silly errors that could be holding you back".
Comments
Hi Graham,
I can´t say anything about spelling errors and misplaced apostrophes. I would be shameless if I said that this is a disgrace. I engulf many apostrophes and make a lot of spelling mistakes. Anyway, I think it´s a bit exaggerated. I don´t reckon that blunders were so big and important things as they say. I don´t think misplacing apostrophes is great mistake. Adzuna, journalists and other protagonists have to say that spelling mistakes crop up time and time again to sell their goods.
Young English people are studying, they know several languages and perhaps they have to help to their family. It´s no an excuse, but we have to understand them. I suppose that Mr. Huntley only had to study when he was young and he did never write a CV because your father found a job for him in your company. I´m not sure, but it´s possible. This kind of people boast about they are the best and they never did a stroke of work.
On the other hand, I can see that Scotland (7%) and London 6%) are the less accurate CVs. Is it okay?
See you.
I don't suppose you mind me leaving the accent off the "e". In fact, why don't we just do away with accents. It'd make my life easier. I will never get my head around agudas, graves, esdrujulas and sobresdrujulas (the last two look just fine without accents).
I know it's hard to believe but I do make mistakes now and again. I come across mistakes in my comments though I think most of them are typos.
My spelling isn't as good as it once was. I put this down to the interference of Spanish. The same goes for my grammar.
We all make careless mistakes but it has become the norm to accept bad spelling and incorrect grammar. I really do think many people don't know the difference between its and it's and lose and loose.
I can´t talk when it comes to spelling errors and misplaced apostrophes. I would be shameless if I said that this is a disgrace. My writing is engulfed with apostrophes and I make a lot of spelling mistakes. Anyway, I think it´s a bit exaggerated / over the top. I don´t reckon that these blunders are as serious as they say. I don´t think misplacing apostrophes is a great / huge mistake. Adzuna, journalists and other protagonists have to say that spelling mistakes crop up time and time again to sell their goods.
Young English people are studying, they know several languages (I doubt that is the case) and perhaps they have to help their family (again, that's very doubtful). It´s , but we have to understand them. I suppose that Mr. Huntley only had to study when he was young and he never did write a CV because his father found a job for him in his company. I´m not sure, but it´s possible. This kind of people boast about being the best but they have never done a stroke of work.
On the other hand, I can see that Scotland (7%) and London (6%) have the least accurate CVs. (I should point out that both Scotland and London voted to remain in the EU - maybe there is a connection)