One in three CVs submitted for job applications in the UK contain at least five spelling mistakes, according to new research.
Job advertisement website Adzuna studied almost 150,000 CVs, finding that two thirds of all those submitted had at least one error.
Additionally, more than 5,000 of all CVs contained 20 or more spelling mistakes.
Of the 147, 272 CVs analysed, only 55,341 were free of spelling errors.
The most commonly misspelt words included “organisation”, “modelling” and “behaviour”, the study found.
These were followed by “judgment”, “transferable”, “labour”, “equipment”, “practised”, “demeanour” and “liasing”.
Many jobseekers also used American spellings for words, such as “analyze” instead of “analyse”.
The study found that people in London were most likely to submit error-laden CVs, followed by people in the South East, Eastern England and North West England.
Andrew Hunter, co-founder of Adzuna, encouraged candidates to thoroughly check their CVs for errors, commenting that this could be holding them back from getting employed.
“Documents with spelling errors or missing information often lead to a jobseeker falling at the first hurdle,” Hunter said.
“Taking care to outline career ambitions in a personal statement and indicating employment preferences like remote or hybrid working can help set expectations.
“It may also help fast-track a jobseeker finding a good match in an employer, and hopefully a fulfilling future career path.”
Aside from spelling errors, other common mistakes included leaving unexplained gaps in employment history, including invalid email addresses and submitting CVs that were either too long or too brief.
The study comes after a separate report, published earlier this month, revealed the best places to work in the UK.
Glassdoor asked employees to rate their workplaces on a number of key attributes, such as whether they provide ample career opportunities, culture and values, diversity and inclusion, compensation and benefits, and whether there is a good work-life balance.
It found that employers who had changed their ways of working during the pandemic to “truly put their people first” performed best.
Of the top 50 places to work, tech companies dominated the list, taking 19 spots.
“This year’s Best Places to Work winners are leading the way by listening and responding to employee feedback and reimagining the employee experience to truly put their people first,” Christian Sutherland-Wong, CEO of Glassdoor said.
“It’s inspiring to see these employers step up during the pandemic to expand and grow company cultures where employees feel supported and valued in and out of work.”
