Employers' top ten turn offs

Inexperience

‘Students should be thinking about their CVs while they’re at university,’ says Paul Tolley of recruiters sf group. ‘If someone comes straight to us as a graduate, it’s harder to help them. If they’ve had a year’s relevant work experience, we can help them every day of the week.’

Careless CVs

Never rush an application. ‘Why would somebody spend three years and get £10,000 into debt to knock out poor-quality CVs?’ asks Simon Perriton of Just IT training.

Mis-spelling

Never express an interest in a ‘pubic relations’ career. ‘If someone sends us an application that has mistakes in it, we won’t even read their CV,’ say PR firm White Oaks.

Circumlocution

‘I think these days people are more impressed by clarity of expression and thought than they are by the extent of somebody’s vocabulary,’ says Tony Maher of the Plain English campaign.

Making excuses

‘I don't think you should ever use the words "I've only". You have to accentuate the positive,’ advises Carl Gilleard, chief executive of the Association of Graduate Recruiters.

Door-knocking

‘You might be very good, but if you knock on the door without an appointment and ask for a job, that tells us all we need to know about you. We’re very busy!’ comments LEWIS PR’s Clive Booth.

Postgrad (sometimes)

‘You can't do a postgraduate course because you can't think what to do, or there isn't anything else to do,’ says Carl Gilleard.

Poor speaking

‘Employers are recognising that whilst a particular person might look great on paper, if they can’t communicate verbally and put their ideas across well, they’re not the sort of person they want to hire,’ says Cristina Stuart of Speak First.

Dangerous hobbies

‘If you say you go Formula One driving and hang gliding they might be inclined to question whether or not you’re going to make it in in one piece on a Monday morning!’ says careers professional Mike Cox.

Being boring

'We sometimes find ourselves dealing with indistinguishable robocandidates. An awful lot of people are "happy to work as part of a team". We look for people who stand out, and who have thought more about what we do and what they can offer us that's remarkable,' says Pearson Education’s Richard Stagg.