Discover examples of terrible CVs/resumes submitted by applicants and what you should do instead to get hired. Learn how to fix your CV mistakes and improve your chances of getting your desired job.

Your CV/resume tells your employers why you’re a good fit for the role.

It’s either a killer resume that gets you hired or a terrible resume that gets thrown in the trash bin. Unfortunately, most CVs/resumes fall into the latter category.

Trust me, as a top hiring manager at Adilo, I have seen it all—resumes with no quick link to verify work samples, ones with chaotic colour and font designs, and even CVs with unrelated disciplines and skills. 

This could be why your job application never returns with positive feedback.

So, in this guide, I’ll walk you through examples of terrible CVs/resumes submitted by applicants and what you should do instead to get hired. These strategies are all based on my 14+ years of recruiting experience with top SaaS companies.

However, while the samples and guide to be shared in this post are based on creative applicants, they still apply to other fields and would get you your desired job.

Let’s begin.

9 Examples of Terrible CVs/Resumes Submitted by Applicants and What You Should Do Instead to Get Hired

Before we fix those CV mistakes, kindly note that I’ve blurred every personal details and identifiers on the CV samples to be shared to protect the privacy of the applicants.

1. Absence of Quick Link to Verify Skills and Work Samples

Most applicants often lie about their skills and work experiences to impress employers—we recruiters are aware of this.

So, a well-placed link to your portfolio or a successful project immediately grabs attention and sets you apart from other applicants. 

The above CV sample focused more on education, work experiences, skills, and contact information. And that’s great. 

However, there was no link to verify the CV’s claims. 

Over the years, I’ve seen many applicants submit CVs without their portfolio links or relevant work samples. This oversight can cost you the job, especially in competitive fields.  

We hiring managers have to deal with hundreds of applications during recruitment. If we can’t quickly verify your claims, we will likely move on to the next candidate.

Even well-designed CVs such as the below sample don’t stand a chance without a link to verify skills and samples. 

Besides, simply listing your skills without tangible evidence lacks credibility.

What You Should Do Instead to Get Hired

Recruiters want evidence and proof that you’re the best fit for the role. 

Hence,  include clickable links to support your claims in your CVs. 

This includes:

• Personal website links
• Link to work samples
• Successful project link 
• Portfolio links on sites such as Dribbble, Behance or Notion
• Link to published content or resource

However, before you include a portfolio link in your resume, you need to understand where not to host your portfolio when looking for a job and the best platform to get the job.

Why?

Hosting your portfolio on the wrong platforms like social media isn’t professional and can scare off potential employers. 

2. Terrible CV Designs

A  poorly designed CV can ruin your chances of getting hired before a recruiter reads your experience.

The hiring manager spends only 6-7 seconds scanning a resume. 

If yours is cluttered, unreadable, or visually unappealing, it might get tossed instantly. 

Consider the above CV sample of an applicant for a graphic design role. This applicant used green-coloured fonts on a dark background, which makes the CV hard to read coupled with its terrible design. 

It’s already a terrible first step for someone applying as a designer; this applies to other fields too. 

Also, I discourage using long paragraphs with no spacing, improper alignments, and a lack of section headings. We recruiters struggle to skim through essential details on such CVs/resumes. 

What You Should Do Instead to Get Hired

Creativity in a CV is highly welcomed, but don’t go overboard with it. 

We hiring managers prefer a clean, professional layout. So, stick to a simple, professional font style and size. 

In addition, use black text on a white background to maintain clarity. Keep bold and italics minimals; only use for section headers and job titles.

To win your recruiter’s attention, use clear headings with bold formatting for work experience, education, and skills. Most importantly, structure job descriptions using bullet points. 

3.  Portfolio Link Buried Within CV/Resume

One of the biggest mistakes job applicants make is hiding their portfolio link deep within their CVs. 

This is an example of terrible CVs/resumes submitted by applicants I see all the time:

• The portfolio link is placed at the bottom of the last page, which the recruiter may never reach.
• The portfolio link is buried within a block of text, making it difficult to spot.
• Link inserted under an unrelated section such as hobbies or additional information
• The link is not hyperlinked, requiring recruiters to copy and paste the URL manually.

In the above CV, its portfolio link is tucked very far away at the bottom left where people will struggle to see it. 

If recruiters can’t immediately find a link to your portfolio, they’ll unlikely take extra steps to search for it.

What You Should Do Instead to Get Hired

A hidden portfolio link means missed opportunities, especially for roles where work samples are crucial.

Hence, place your portfolio link at the top of your CV, next to your email and phone number. I advise you to highlight the word “Portfolio” as a separate section to enhance its visibility.

Also, ensure your portfolio link is hyperlinked in the digital version of your CV; recruiters should be able to click it instantly instead of copying and pasting. 

In addition, avoid long, complicated URLs with random numbers and characters. Instead, use a professional, easy-to-read, and custom URL.

4. Combination of Unrelated Discipline

In the quest to impress recruiters, applicants combine unrelated disciplines in their CVs. 

This CV confuses recruiters and makes you appear unfocused and unqualified for a specific role. 

The above applicant’s CV is scattered between fields of unrelated disciplines (software dev and graphic design). If you do this, recruiters won’t look at your application as an expert-level operator due to a scattered field of discipline.

While all these experiences and skills may be valuable, they’re unrelated and don’t create a strong profile for any specific role. 

What You Should Do Instead to Get Hired

Without a clear connection between your disciplines in your CV, the resume lacks direction and makes it difficult for recruiters to determine your strength. 

That said, I recommend you tailor your resume for each job if you have more than one field of unrelated discipline.

Instead of listing all your experiences and skills randomly, focus on those relevant to the job you’re applying for. 

5. Inclusion of Needless Information

The inclusion of irrelevant information only crowds your CV and appears unprofessional.

While the above CV isn’t exactly an example of terrible CVs/resumes submitted by applicants, it contains so much needless information such as nationality, sex, and city. 

I see lots of applicants making these mistakes by providing unneeded information that may (in some cases) lead to systematic disenfranchisement.

What You Should Do Instead to Get Hired

You improve your chances of getting hired when you avoid needless personal information.

Unless explicitly requested, personal details such as sex, photo, nationality, religion, city, date of birth, and sexual orientation, are not needed.

In contrast, focus on your skills and the value you can add to the employer’s team, nothing else matters.

6. Poor CV Layout

Your CV layout piques recruiter’s interest to scan through your qualifications.

However, when your CV looks clumsy and disorganized, it tells recruiters you’re unprofessional and unfit for the role.

When a job applicant places information haphazardly without a logical flow, it confuses recruiters leading to immediate rejection.

Consider the above CV, while it has quick access to work portfolio via different platforms, its layout is inferior and doesn’t appear professional. 

It combines name, contact information, and portfolio in the same section without a proper heading to differentiate these key sections. 

In addition, the above CV contains cluttered and small text, making it difficult to read.

What You Should Do Instead to Get Hired

To increase your chances of getting noticed by your recruiter, organize your CV into well-defined sections such as contact information, professional summary, work experience, skills, etc.

Also, you should use a simple and straightforward font style and size with spacing to improve your CV readability. 

7. Work Experience Not Related to Job Description

A long list of unrelated work experiences for a job doesn’t show expertise, but rather a lack of focus and direction. 

Recruiters expect to see experiences that align with the job they’re hiring for. 

The above example of terrible CVs/resumes submitted by applicants would scare off recruiters. In fact, recruiters will mostly skip this because the applicant has very scattered work experience in fields that are not even remotely close to the job description for which the applicant is applying.

This applicant has experience as an accountant, UI/UX designer, Insurance advisor, sales consultant, customer service officer etc., all in a single CV. 

Now, where do you place this applicant with such unrelated experiences applying for the role of creative?

What You Should Do Instead to Get Hired

Perhaps you have little or no experience in the job you’re applying for, focus on transferable skills.

So, instead of listing unrelated experience, extract skills that can be applied to the target job you’re applying for.

Also, if you lack direct experience, you should emphasize on certifications, online courses, or freelance projects you’ve achieved related to the field.

8. The Use of Generic CV

A generic CV is a one-size-fits-all document that applicants submit for multiple job applications without tailoring it to a specific job.

This approach is a significant red flag because it suggests a lack of effort, interest, and understanding of the role.

The above terrible CV sample lacks customization. It’s broad and uses vague descriptions of skills and experiences that don’t directly relate to the job in question.

This type of CV is likely to be ignored as it fails to showcase how this applicant is the perfect fit for the role.

What You Should Do Instead to Get Hired

Employers want to see how your background aligns with their specific needs, not just a general summary of what you’ve done.

So, instead of sending the same resume everywhere, tailor your CV to match each job description. Highlight the skills, experience, and achievements most relevant to the role. 

I recommend you use the job description as a guide to understand what the employer values most.

9. Infographic Style Resume

Many applicants submit infographic-based resumes with graphs, pie charts, and visual ratings of their skills.

The above applicant used visual rating bars for skills. That’s unprofessional and most recruiters dislike this approach.

While this might seem creative, in many cases, it becomes an example of terrible CVs/resumes submitted by applicants, especially in a professional and corporate setting.

In addition, infographics are hard to read and understand. 

What You Should Do Instead to Get Hired

Instead of an infographic resume, opt for a well-structured format with clear headings. For easy readability, use bullet points to explain each section.

Your headings should include a professional summary, work experience, skills section, education and certification. 

Also, use simple font style and size with adequate spacing to avoid a clumsy CV.

FAQS

Final Thoughts on Examples of Terrible CVs/Resumes Submitted by Applicants and What You Should Do Instead to Get Hired

To speed up the hiring process, recruiters now use ATS software (Applicant Tracking System) to filter applications.

Hence, CVs/resumes with poor designs, infographics, unrelated work experiences, and skills would fail ATS parsing and get automatically rejected before a human even sees them. 

Do you want to create ATS-friendly CVs and win the hearts of your recruiters?

Absolutely!

Then, carefully study my above guide on examples of terrible CVs/resumes submitted by applicants and what you should do instead to get hired. These strategies are result proven to fix CV mistakes which would guarantee positive feedback on your next job application.