Three hot spots on your CV

A step-by-step guide to creating your CV

Paula S. Katz | April 28, 2015

While having a gap in your CV might be the first item to draw employers’ attention—and not the good kind—there are three other items that could cause employers to question whether you’ll be a good fit for their job.

Regina Levison, vice president, client development, Jordan Search Consultants, St. Louis, talks about those areas and why they’re hot spots:

Job hopper

While you may have had a good reason to have a series of short-term job placements, a one-year job doesn’t look good on a physician’s CV. Several of them recently will raise a red flag.

Employers wonder if the following caused your placement to be cut short: Do you have a behavioral problem? Is your skill level below par? Are you lazy or just interested in collecting a paycheck? Do you have poor communication skills? Are you unable to appropriately assess a job opportunity? Do you really understand what you want in a job? Are you coming to a community without truly understanding what that town has to offer?

“I’ve had candidates say, ‘The job sounds pretty good but I like to go clubbing.’ Well, you can’t in a rural community. Or, ‘My passion is snowboarding’ but they take a job in the desert. This makes employers question your decision-making ability,” she says.

Offshore medical schools

Some organizations will still consider this a red flag, even for candidates who are job searching later in their careers. A good way to put that concern to rest is to get into a quality reputable residency program, Ms. Levison says. Having shown your leadership by, for example, becoming a chief resident, will bump you into the “A” candidate pile.

Grammatical and spelling errors

Employers will make assumptions about your attention to detail and perhaps even what you think of the job search process if they see spelling and grammar mistakes in your CV. Proofread carefully.

For more information on creating your resume, see: “Put together your curriculum vitae the right way,” “Choosing the right references,” and “How to address a work gap on your CV.”