Time to get editing...
Take a look at your CV and you may be quite proud of it - after all, who wouldn't want to be seen as passionate, hard-working and reliable?
Well, according to resume experts PurpleCV.co.uk, we should be steering clear of these tired old clichés as they might actually make our CVs more likely to be ignored.
After surveying 2,000 peope on the language they used in their CVs, the recruitment specialists found that far from looking impressive, these tired old phrases just looked unoriginal and boring.
'These days it just looks dated, not to mention lazy,’ said a spokesperson for the company. 'It won’t make you stand out, because it’s what nearly everyone else is saying on their resume.'
After watching countless interviews on The Apprentice over the years, we can kind of see his point.
Instead, he suggests: 'focus on demonstrating your experience by giving real life examples of your achievements, and don’t forget to tailor it to the actual role you’re applying for.
'Avoid jargon and corporate speak and you’ll be half way to standing out anyway, purely because you’ve avoided using any clichés!’
The spokesperson also advised that an eye for detail was one of the most important things on a CV. 'Firstly, it is imperative there are no spelling, punctuation and grammar mistakes,' he said. 'This is something almost everybody glosses over and glaring errors are often missed. Likewise with formatting - sending a PDF version of the CV often helps eliminate this risk. While the above may seem obvious, we're never ceased to be amazed at the number of people who do all the hard work and then let themselves down with basic errors.
'These days, a generic CV that you blast out to dozens of employers will seldom do the job (pardon the pun!). Employers want to see that you have taken a particular interest in them so research, research, research. Use LinkedIn to see if you can find the hiring manager and tailor your CV / covering letter appropriately. Make sure you read the job specification so you can sprinkle some well-chosen “keywords” from the spec directly into the CV - the more a hiring manager can pair you up with what they’re looking for, the better.'
Ready to hear what the worst phrases are - and how many people use them? Here goes...
Hard working: 25% Reliable: 18.3% Team player: 11.6% Dedicated: 9.5% Passionate: 8.2% Strategic thinker: 6.8% Results driven: 4.5% Dynamic: 3.5%
Ouch. We've definitely used a few of those in our time.
Have you? Let us know @marieclaireuk