Most CVs are rejected in under 10 seconds. That's not cynicism — it's how recruitment works when a hiring manager has 200 applications to review before lunch. The CVs that make the cut aren't necessarily from the most qualified candidates. They're from candidates who avoided the mistakes that cause instant dismissal.
Here are the seven mistakes that get CVs rejected most often, and exactly how to fix each one.
1. A Generic Objective Statement at the Top
What it is: An opening line like "Motivated professional seeking a challenging role where I can utilise my skills and contribute to organisational success."
Why it kills your chances: It says nothing. Every recruiter has read this sentence thousands of times. It takes up valuable space at the top of your CV — the highest-value real estate — and replaces it with filler that signals you haven't thought about this application at all.
How to fix it: Replace the objective statement with a professional summary of 3–4 sentences that tells the reader who you are, what you specialise in, and what you bring to the role. Be specific: "Senior product manager with 8 years of experience in B2B SaaS, specialising in 0-to-1 product development and cross-functional team leadership. Led two products from concept to £2M ARR." That's a CV opener. Objective statements are a relic — cut them.
2. Listing Duties Instead of Achievements
What it is: Bullet points that describe what your job was, not what you accomplished in it. "Responsible for managing social media accounts." "Assisted the sales team with client communications."
Why it kills your chances: Duties describe a job description, not a person. Every candidate who held that role had the same duties. What makes you stand out is what you actually achieved — and leaving that out makes you invisible.
How to fix it: Reframe every bullet point as an achievement. Add a metric wherever you can. "Grew Instagram following from 4K to 22K in 12 months, increasing referral traffic by 40%." "Supported deal closure on 6 enterprise accounts totalling £380K ARR." If you can't find a metric, describe the outcome: "Redesigned onboarding flow, reducing support tickets in the first week by approximately a third." Numbers aren't always available, but impact always is.
3. Getting the Length Wrong
What it is: Either a one-page CV that omits years of relevant experience, or a sprawling five-page document padded with every job you've ever held.
Why it kills your chances: The one-page rule is outdated — it was designed for new graduates and is often misapplied by experienced candidates. Cutting a strong career down to one page loses the context that justifies your seniority. But padding to five pages with irrelevant roles from 15 years ago signals poor judgment about what matters.
How to fix it: The right length is determined by your experience, not an arbitrary rule. Under 5 years of experience: aim for 1–2 pages. 5–15 years: 2–3 pages. 15+ years: 3 pages maximum, with older roles condensed. Every line should justify its place. If you're cutting relevant content to hit a page count, stop. If you're stretching thin content to fill pages, cut harder.
4. Keyword Stuffing vs Natural Keyword Integration
What it is: Either ignoring the keywords in the job description entirely, or cramming them in awkwardly: "Experienced in agile agile methodology, scrum scrum processes, and agile delivery."
Why it kills your chances: Modern ATS (applicant tracking systems) scan CVs for keywords before a human ever sees them. If your CV doesn't include the right terms, it's filtered out automatically. But keyword stuffing is equally damaging — it reads as spam to ATS systems and looks desperate to humans.
How to fix it: Read the job description carefully and identify the key terms: specific technologies, methodologies, qualifications, and sector-specific language. Then integrate them naturally into your experience descriptions. "Led cross-functional scrum team delivering two-week sprints for a healthcare SaaS platform" includes the keyword while actually describing your work. Aim to mirror the language of the job description without copying it verbatim.
5. Inconsistent Formatting
What it is: Date formats that switch between "Jan 2021" and "01/2021" mid-document. Bullet points that start with action verbs in some sections and full sentences in others. Different fonts or font sizes across sections. Misaligned columns.
Why it kills your chances: Inconsistent formatting signals lack of attention to detail — which is often a direct proxy for how you'll perform in the role itself. It also makes the CV harder to scan quickly, which increases the chance of a recruiter giving up.
How to fix it: Pick a format and apply it ruthlessly throughout. Decide on one date format (Month Year is most readable), one bullet style, one font pair, and one heading hierarchy — then don't deviate. Before you submit, read your CV top to bottom with the sole purpose of spotting inconsistencies. Better yet, have someone else do it.
6. ATS-Unfriendly Formatting
What it is: Tables, text boxes, columns, graphics, charts, headers and footers containing key information, and unusual fonts that confuse automated parsing systems.
Why it kills your chances: ATS software doesn't read CVs the way humans do. When your name and contact details are in a header, many systems can't find them. When your experience is in a two-column table, the parser reads across both columns simultaneously and produces gibberish. Your well-designed CV becomes an unreadable mess before any human sees it.
How to fix it: Use a clean, single-column layout with clear section headings. Put your contact information in the main body of the document, not in a header. Avoid tables, text boxes, and columns. Stick to standard fonts (Calibri, Arial, Georgia). PDF is usually safe, but some ATS systems still prefer .docx — check the application instructions. Visual design matters far less than parsability.
7. No Tailoring — The Same CV Sent to Every Job
What it is: Sending the same CV, unchanged, to every role you apply for regardless of the company, sector, or seniority level of the position.
Why it kills your chances: Generic CVs read as generic applications. A CV optimised for a senior marketing role at a fast-growth startup should look meaningfully different from one for a marketing manager role at a FTSE 100 company. The skills you emphasise, the achievements you lead with, and the language you use should all be calibrated to the specific role.
How to fix it: Maintain a "master CV" with all your experience, then create tailored versions for each application. You don't need to rewrite it from scratch every time — a 20-minute review to swap bullets, reframe the summary, and adjust the keywords for each role makes a measurable difference in response rates. Candidates who tailor get more interviews. It's that simple.
These seven mistakes are fixable. Most of them take less than an hour to address once you know what you're looking for.
Get your CV checked for these mistakes → Bluntly reviews your CV against recruiter standards and flags exactly what's holding you back. Upload free, no card needed.