Recruiters spend seconds, not minutes, on a first pass through a CV — which means small, avoidable issues can cost a candidate a callback before their actual qualifications ever get considered.
A typo in the first few lines
An error near the top reads as carelessness, fair or not, and it's the section a recruiter reads most closely. Read the top third of your CV out loud before sending — it catches mistakes silent reading tends to skip over.
An unprofessional email address
An address from years ago, meant for personal use, sitting at the top of a job application undercuts an otherwise strong CV. A simple name-based address takes two minutes to set up and removes this entirely.
Listing duties instead of results
"Responsible for managing inventory" describes a job description, not your performance in it. "Reduced stock discrepancies by 30% through a new counting process" shows what you actually did with the responsibility.
Sending the identical CV to every job
A CV that reads as generic — no specific mention of the industry or role — signals a mass application rather than genuine interest, and experienced recruiters can usually tell the difference at a glance.
Inconsistent formatting
Mixed date formats, inconsistent bullet styles, or font changes between sections look unpolished even when the content itself is strong. This is one of the easiest things to fix and one of the most commonly overlooked.