What You Should Never Include In Your Curriculum Vitae

A winning Curriculum Vitae is not always only the product of what you put into it. Often what you should not put into it is as important. Let us see, what are the inputs that could sabotage your ultimate Curriculum Vitae:

1. Title on the top of the page - your Curriculum Vitae should not be labeled as such. Do not type 'Biodata', 'CV', 'Curriculum vitae' as the title. You should rather put your name and coordinates in that place, so the reader would know whose Curriculum Vitae he/she is reading.
2. Do not use jargon or colloquial language. The English (or any language, as a matter of fact) should be impeccable and as much as possible simple and without bombastic words and technical terms
3. Do not use narrative style; as much as possible use bullet point that are easily scannable so you could convey more with less verbosity
4. Do not attach photograph, unless specifically requested
5. Do not mention the last salary drawn. The employer should make an offer independent of what you drew in your last company; otherwise, they might be tempted to under-quote your offer. The opposite could also happen - if your past salary would have been too high, then you might be disqualified from the interview on this ground
6. Do not mention your references' name or coordinates; you could mention that if required, you would furnish the information. As it is this information is relevant only after an offer has been made.
7. Do not include 'reason for leaving' from your last job, as this does not have a direct bearing on the job you are applying. However, be ever prepared for this question during the interview.
8. Do not 'inflate' your achievements and/or qualifications or skills. Remember, most of the recruiters would run a background check up before finalizing an offer; you do not want to be embarrassed later on - and loose a good offer.
9. Do not use any abbreviations in the Curriculum Vitae as these can be very confusing and distracting; always use the expanded form. If you have to use any, explain these through a legend in a footnote
10. Do not type your Curriculum Vitae as a monotonous list of achievements and skills; make the facts come alive and draw an accurate picture of you in the eyes of the recruiter
11. Do not forget to put a 4-5 line summary on the top of the Curriculum Vitae; many Curriculum Vitaes have been rejected because the recruiter did not have the time to go through the whole thing to get an idea of how capable the person is
12. Do not forget to update your Curriculum Vitae everytime you have achieved something in your professional life

These are a few things that if you keep in mind while drafting your next Curriculum Vitae would greatly improve your chances for a call letter. Hence, be careful and be aware of what you should include and exclude when you are penning down your winning Curriculum Vitae!