CV mistakes that get you rejected before anyone reads page two

7 minute read · Updated 2026-08-25

Most CV mistakes are not dramatic. Nobody is rejected for a single typo on page two. They are rejected because a stack of small problems adds up to a document that is harder work than the next one in the pile, and a recruiter with forty applications and one afternoon will always take the easier read. Here are the ones that come up again and again in UK applications, and what to do about each.

Contact and admin CV mistakes that end it immediately

A phone number with a digit missing, or a voicemail that is full. If a recruiter cannot reach you on the second attempt, they move on.
An email address you no longer check, or one that is not suitable for work. Set up a plain address using your name.
Contact details in the document header, where recruitment software often fails to read them.
No location at all. Employers filter by travel time, and a CV with no town leaves them guessing.
A file named cv new final.docx, or a link to a document the employer cannot open. Attach a Word file or a PDF, named with your own name and the role.

These take five minutes to fix and they cost more interviews than anything about your experience.

Content mistakes: duties instead of evidence

The single most common problem is a CV made entirely of responsibilities. Responsible for stock control tells the reader what the job was, not whether you were good at it. Give the scale and the result: Ran stock control for a branch turning over four deliveries a week, cutting write offs by tightening date rotation checks.

Other content mistakes worth hunting for:

A personal statement full of adjectives. If hard working team player could describe every applicant, it is doing no work.
The same CV sent to every advert. You do not need a new document each time, but the opening paragraph and the order of your skills should match the job you are answering.
Burying the qualification the employer requires on page two. If the advert asks for an SMSTS, a Driver CPC, an enhanced DBS or a Level 3 diploma, it belongs on page one.
Jargon and internal job titles. Band 4 P2 Coordinator means nothing outside your old employer, so add a plain explanation in brackets.
Listing every course you have ever attended, which pushes the important ones out of sight.

Dates, gaps and job hopping

Recruiters read the dates first, so make them easy. Use a consistent format with months and years, keep the order strictly reverse chronological, and account for every period. An unexplained eighteen month gap invites the reader to invent a reason.

Short stints are not fatal, but a run of them without context is. Add a bracketed explanation where it is true: fixed term contract, agency assignment, site closed, maternity cover. If you have had a break, put in a dated entry describing it, which our guide to writing a CV after a career break covers in more detail.

Honesty mistakes with real consequences

Exaggeration on a CV is treated far more seriously in the UK than most applicants realise. Claiming a qualification you do not hold can amount to fraud by false representation, and dismissal for it is common even years later once it comes to light.

Qualifications are checked. Awarding bodies, universities and registers such as the NMC can be verified in minutes, and CSCS, SIA and Gas Safe registrations are all searchable.
Dates are checked. Employers routinely confirm start and end dates with previous employers, and many references now contain nothing else.
Right to work is always checked. The employer must see acceptable documents or use a share code before you start, so there is nothing to be gained by being vague about it.
Regulated roles bring further checks, including a DBS check at the appropriate level for work with children or vulnerable adults.

Describing a shared achievement as your own sits in the same category. Say what your part was, because at interview you will be asked how you did it.

Presentation mistakes that make you look careless

Two column templates with sidebars, coloured skill bars, photographs, logos and icons all cause problems: they parse badly, they print badly, and they take up room that evidence should occupy. Mixed fonts and inconsistent bullet styles suggest a document assembled in a hurry.

Spelling and grammar still matter, particularly for anything involving records, customers or safety. Run a spellchecker set to English (United Kingdom), then read the CV aloud, which catches the errors a checker approves. Ask one other person to read it, because you will read what you meant to type.

Finally, check the CV against the advert one last time before sending. If the employer asked for availability, a licence category or a certificate number and it is not there, no amount of polish will rescue the application.

Next step: work through this list with your CV open, fix the contact details first, then apply to something real from our current vacancies. If you want to see how your document is dealt with once it is sent, read how we handle CVs.