As a Talent Acquisition Professional, a lot of people come complaining to me that they paid someone to write their CV, applied to over 200 vacancies, and haven’t gotten a single interview invite.

Some are willing to pay me to review their CV again, but I tell them the bitter truth the CV Consultant may not have told them.

Here are six reasons why you are not getting your desired result:

You may be applying to the wrong jobs It’s about quality, not quantity. A big mistake is thinking that every vacancy you see should be applied to. It’s best to apply to a few and get more results. It baffles me when I send people vacancies, and after three minutes, they say, Done! It’s not every job you’re qualified for. It’s also not every job that your CV is qualified for. Save your energy and apply to only the right ones.

ChJobeck out jobtraininghub.com for useful tips on getting your career to the next level.

You haven’t put in effort in your job application Using your data to send a mail doesn’t count as an effort. What CV Review does is to put your ‘General’ CV in shape and ensure you’re well-positioned—and, yes, some people desperately need to pay for a review. But but but, you have a part to play for each vacancy you apply for. Here are some of the things you need to put into every application:


  1. Do some basic and simple research about the company.

  2. Study the job description. Don’t just read to forward your CV, try to understand what they really want and check if you fit.

  3. Sit down and re-arrange the CV they helped you review. Extract some basic (important) requirements, and put it in your CV (if it’s not there), then remove the things that are not relevant, e.g if you’re applying for specialist roles, remove some irrelevant generalist job descriptions.

  4. Add achievements and any other details that will make you stand out.
You didn’t listen to instruction Shout out to all those who send applications without a subject, or use ‘CV’ as the job title. Most times, companies ask you to use the job title as the subject of the email. Please follow instructions and don’t just be in a hurry to increase the number of CVs sent.

You didn’t add a Cover Letter Don’t underestimate the power of a good and convincing cover letter. This goes a long way, especially when you are not as qualified for the role, but you feel you can still do it. This is an opportunity to sell yourself and convince the employer to at least call you for an interview.

If you would like a step by step guide to writing a cover letter, you can check it out here.

You may not be suitable Here, the employer/hiring manager/recruiter may have seen your CV and just did not feel you are suitable for the role. Based on my experience as a recruiter, I see some really nice CVs that don’t fit what I’m currently looking for, and I keep them in view for other roles. You may not be suitable for a role now, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be the perfect candidate for tomorrow’s vacancy, so keep the hope alive.

Your application may have gotten lost Some companies get so many applications for a particular role, and because they don’t have a recruitment software to help them manage CVs, there is a high probability that some CVs got lost. I’m talking based on experience, as someone who has worked in both structured and unstructured recruitment. I always advise candidates to resend an application if they find the role re-advertised, especially when they are sure they are qualified (if possible, reach out to an HR staff of the company on LinkedIn).

It has worked for a candidate and he got the job after sending it the second time.

N.B: This doesn’t always work, though, it’s a possibility in few cases.

The author, Yewande Jinadu is the founder of CareerLife Nigeria(careerlife.com.ng), a certified HR Professional and an Employability coach.