How to avoid the five most common mistakes in the curriculum, according to Google

Laszlo Bock, head of human resources of Google, has written an interesting post that summarizes the errors more frequent in a curriculum. As he admits, sent hundreds to any work and has personally reviewed 20,000. And the company where he works receives about 50,000 a week. 



Error number one: misspellings and misprints

Even though it may seem obvious, it happens over and over again: a study of 2013 calculated that approximately 58% of CV has typos or spelling mistakes, so Bock recommends to check it from bottom to top: by his experience, interestingly, the people who more changes and more care put into updating it are more fouls committed. The most common failures are lack of agreement between subject and predicate, and errors in the dates. 


Mistake number two: length

The recommendation is that 10 years of work experience should be summarized in a page, because the curricula of more than four pages not just reading. It is essential to demonstrate ability to synthesis and can prioritize our most important information. 


Mistake number three: attention to the format

Unless we are looking for a job as a designer or artist, the aim must be to have a curriculum without frills, clear and readable, with a size of at least 10 source, with margins and enough space between lines, written in black ink and on white paper, with name and contact information on each page. It is best to auto send it to us in an email and see it in preview, to see if it keeps the format (can be changed). To avoid this, you can save as a PDF. 


Error number four: disclose confidential information

Not ever include information of this kind, even in a veiled way. The head of Google recommended the so-called test of the New York Times: If you do not want that it came out on the cover of the newspaper (or do not want your boss to see it), don't put it in the curriculum. 


Error number five: don't lie

Finally, Bock recommends not trying to trick ever, because in its opinion no it is never worth, since it is easy to be discovered and these lies will always pursue us.