Majority of job seekers failing to tailor CVs

The majority of UK job seekers are falling at the first hurdle because they are not tailoring their CVs to the job descriptions, that’s according to the first online fixed fee recruitment agency, webrecruit.

Statistics from their latest Jobseeker Survey has highlighted the scale of the issue, revealing that just 32% of job seekers always tailor their CV when applying for a vacancy.

Whilst the survey showed some positive signs with over 60% of respondents always sending in a customised covering letter, and the number of resources used to find a job increasing, job seekers are running the risk of failing at the most crucial stage.

Phil Roebuck, CEO of webrecruit, commented: “In light of latest news that UK unemployment rose by 129,000 in the three months to September to 2.62 million, it seems that this crucial step is being overlooked in the application process.

“This statistic is especially concerning considering just how fierce the competition is for jobs.” Phil continued. “To put it into context, we’re seeing an increase in applications for all our clients’ vacancies across the board. For example, a vacancy for a PA role in London received over 230 applications in just one week; a sales and marketing assistant saw over 700 responses. When you’re manually screening this volume of interest, you need applications to be tailored to get the employer’s interest.”