Submitting a CV is usually the first step in the job application process and the first chance to impress a potential employer. But despite the high stakes, here at Adzuna we frequently see CVs pitted with spelling errors and other mistakes.
We crunched the data to reveal the most common mistakes to avoid at all costs. A sloppy CV won’t stop you getting your dream job when you know what to watch out for!
Nearly 9 in 10 British CVs contain spelling mistakes
We analysed over 267,000 UK CVs uploaded to ValueMyCV in March to highlight the most common errors made in job applications.
Only 35,071 CVs analysed were error free, meaning 87% of CVs contained at least one mistake. Even worse, 99,716 CVs (37%) contained 5 or more errors, while 10,717 CVs (4%) contained 20 or more mistakes.
What’s more, our data shows that we’re getting worse.
Compared to a year ago, more jobseekers are failing our CV test. A total of 62% of CVs contained at least one mistake last year, versus this year’s 87%. That’s a pretty substantial uptick!
Not only that, the Brits are also making a lot more mistakes. Only a third of the CVs analysed last year contained 5 or more errors, versus 37% in 2023.
What are the spellings to watch out for?
Most jobseekers with failing CVs made spelling mistakes. We’ve spotted 762,000 misspellings in the CVs analysed.
Perhaps Brits are watching too many American sitcoms or Hollywood movies. The most frequent spelling fail was adopting American spellings, for example, using a “z” instead of an “s”. The five most commonly misspelt words on CVs are “organisation”, “analyse”, “optimise”. “centre”, “utilising”, and “liaising”.
The most misspelt words in British CVs
| Ranking | Most commonly misspelt words | Common misspellings |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Organisation | Organization |
| 2 | Analyse | Analyze |
| 3 | Optimise | Optimize |
| 4 | Centre | Center |
| 5 | Utilising | Utilizing |
| 6 | Maximise | Maximize |
| 7 | Training | Trainings |
| 8 | Modelling | Modeling |
| 9 | Behaviour | Behavior |
| 10 | Visualisation | Visualization |
Another frequent fail is spacing. Many jobseekers are confusing the spacing in words, such as “skill set”, “cash flow”, “in-house”, “ad hoc”, and “up to”.
Top words with erroneous spaces in British CVs
| Ranking | Top words with erroneous spaces in British CVs | Their common misspellings |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | skill set | skillset |
| 2 | cash flow | cashflow |
| 3 | in-house | inhouse |
| 4 | ad hoc | adhoc |
| 5 | up to | upto |
| 6 | company wide | companywide |
| 7 | in store | instore |
| 8 | walk-throughs | walkthroughs |
| 9 | as well | aswell |
| 10 | sign off | signoff |
Some Brits have a hard time remembering grammar rules like uncountable nouns. They are guilty of adding an extra “s” after uncountable nouns “equipment”, “software”, and “feedback”.
Most commonly misspelt uncountable nouns in British CVs
| Ranking | Most commonly misspelt uncountable nouns |
|---|---|
| 1 | equipment |
| 2 | software |
| 3 | feedback |
| 4 | legislation |
| 5 | compliance |
| 6 | conformance |
| 7 | advice |
Many struggle to get these words right: “transferrable”, “anagram”, “communicate”, “marketing”, and “client”. Perhaps it’s their clumsy thumbs, or perhaps these words are really difficult to spell correctly, we never know.
Top words with missing and extra letter(s) in British CVs
| Ranking | Most commonly misspelt words | Their common misspellings |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | transferable | transferrable |
| 2 | anagram | anagem |
| 3 | communicate | communica |
| 4 | marketing | arketing |
| 5 | client | cient |
| 6 | paediatric | pediatric |
| 7 | empathetic | empathic |
| 8 | liaising | liasing |
| 9 | skills | skils |
| 10 | management | managment |
Last but not least, an amusing insight from us: Some professionals still can’t spell “September”, “October” and “February”! Considering that they are probably some of the first few English words we all learned after alphabets and days of the week, to those of you who can’t manage to spell it right, get it together! If a school kid can do it, you surely can!
Beyond spelling errors
Beyond spelling errors, the most common CV mistake we’re seeing is jobseekers forgetting to include a personal summary outlining their career ambitions and strengths. Nearly 1 in 3 CVs (33%) lacked this level of detail.
Another common mistakes are omitting or putting a wrong postal address in their CVs (29%) and leaving gaps in employment history (29%). Unexplained gaps can ring alarm bells for recruiters and employers. If you have a gap of more than a month on their CVs, you need to provide context to clarify why you need to take the time off and highlight any skills and experience you gained during the gaps.
Meanwhile, 22% submitted CVs either too brief or too lengthy. Two pages are widely considered the max length for any CVs. If you’re applying for an entry-level position, you should make an effort to keep it under one page. Remember, it’s not a memoir. Employers don’t need to know all the details. Just like texting, recruiters are going to be like “TLDR” (too long didn’t read) if they receive a 5-page CV.
16% used an inappropriate file name. This means that they included words such as “draft,” “V2,” “untitled” or “document” in the file name. They give off a thoughtless and unprofessional impression. Try naming your file that includes the applicant’s surname and the word “CV,” for example “John Smith CV,” so that a recruiter or hiring manager can locate the document quickly and easily.
A surprisingly high proportion of jobseekers included an invalid or no phone number (10%) and email address (5%) at all on their CV, a mistake likely to lead to immediate disqualification from the hiring process. 5% went bananas with capital letters, which are aggressive and honestly hard to read compared to lowercase letters.
Most common CV errors in the UK
| Ranking | Common CV mistakes |
|---|---|
| 1 | Spelling mistakes |
| 2 | Lack of personal summary |
| 3 | Missing or invalid postal address |
| 4 | Gaps in employment history |
| 5 | CV too long or too short |
| 6 | Inappropriate file name |
| 7 | Invalid or omitted phone number |
| 8 | Invalid or omitted email address |
| 9 | Excessive uppercase letters |
Check out our complete guide to writing a great CV for more tips and guidance.
Londoners and Oxbridge regions have the sloppiest CVs
Finally, we looked at the geographical breakdown of our data to reveal which region is most prone to making CV mistakes. Busy Londoners are most prone to making mistakes on their CV, followed by jobseekers in the South East, Eastern England, and North West England. Being the region housing the most prestigious universities certainly doesn’t help!
By contrast, jobseekers in Northern Ireland make the fewest CV mistakes, while those from the North East and South West also proved more fastidious.
If you’re looking to perfect your applications then use our CV checker tool. ValueMyCV automatically checks CVs for common mistakes so you can get your CV ready and secure more interviews.
Top 5 regions for CV spelling errors
| Ranking | Region with most CV errors |
|---|---|
| 1 | London |
| 2 | South East England |
| 3 | Eastern England |
| 4 | North West England |
| 5 | West Midlands |
If you’re looking to perfect your applications then use our CV checker tool ValueMyCV automatically checks CVs for common mistakes so you can get your CV battle ready and secure more interviews.
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