Using ‘hard-working’ and ‘motivated’ is now meaningless on CVs
Presenting yourself as ‘hard working,’ ‘motivated’ or ‘a team player’ may no longer be the key to getting an interview.
For the words have become the most over used on CVs, making them meaningless to employers and doing little to make candidates stand out.
So many people now follow a standard format when applying for a job, using buzz words and descriptions they know prospective employers want to hear, the majority now think they do little to tell them about the personalities and real skills of applicants.
And their suspicions may be correct as almost a third of people in Britain admit they stretch the truth on their CVs to get an interview, and suspect three quarters of applicants do the same.
A survey of 500 employers and 2,000 consumers found 60 per cent of employers believe CVs do not accurately represent people applying for jobs at their companies.
They said ‘hard-working’, ‘team player’ and ‘motivated’ were the most commonly used words on CVs.
One employer said they thought the documents were “so souped up” they now don’t mean much at all.
Employers were also shown to be tough on first impressions, with 80 per cent saying candidates have just ten minutes to impress them in interviews.
With such pressure to stand out, it may not be surprising 19 per cent of adults polled admitted their CVs didn’t really represent them.
The survey was done by jobsite Foosle which enables candidates to bypass sending in a CV to apply for a job by doing an online video interview which can be submitted to prospective employers instead.
For the video they will answer questions given to the site by employers. This could act as a first round shortlisting process for further interviews, or for some who impress on the video this could lead to them being given the job, depending on the company’s recruitment processes.
The site believes people now need to apply for jobs using technology.
Alistair Rennie, managing director at Foosle said: “It’s almost unbelievable that the first CV was written over 500 years ago by Leonardo da Vinci and employers are still using CVs to assess candidates.
“That’s why new technology is crucial to moving recruitment forward.
“Our technology helps people show their personality and better communicate their suitability for a job, thereby helping recruiters to improve their assessment of applications and find the right ‘fit’.”
The rate of unemployment in the UK has dropped to 7.7 per cent between May and July, with the amount of people out of work falling by 24,000. The number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance also fell to its lowest rate since February 2009 but people working part time was shown to increase.
