You’ve applied to 40 jobs and heard nothing back. It’s not you; it’s probably your CV. Here are the five mistakes we see every single week at HireEast.ng, and exactly how to fix them before your next application.
If you’ve been applying to jobs across Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Enugu, or Kano and hearing nothing back, the problem is rarely your experience; it’s how that experience is presented. At HireEast.ng, we read hundreds of CVs from job seekers across Nigeria every month, and the same five mistakes show up again and again.
Mistake #1
An objective statement instead of a professional summary. “To obtain a challenging position where I can grow” tells an employer nothing about what you offer. Replace it with a 3-line summary that states your role, years of experience, and one measurable win, for example: “Customer service professional with 4 years’ experience resolving client complaints for a telecom provider, improving satisfaction scores by 22%.”
Mistake #2
Listing duties instead of achievements. “Responsible for handling customer complaints” describes a job description, not your value. Employers hire outcomes. Rewrite every bullet using the formula: action verb + what you did + the measurable result. “Resolved an average of 35 customer complaints weekly, reducing escalation rate by 18%” tells a story your competitor’s CV doesn’t.
Mistake #3
Sending one CV to every job. Recruiters can tell within seconds when a CV wasn’t tailored. Before you apply, pull 5–8 keywords straight from the job advert, the exact skills and tools named, and mirror that language in your summary and bullet points. This single habit is the fastest way to move from ‘ignored’ to ‘shortlisted.’
Mistake #4
Formatting that confuses applicant tracking software. Tables, text boxes, columns, and graphics-heavy templates often get mangled or skipped entirely by the software many Nigerian recruiters now use to pre-screen applications. A clean, single-column layout with standard headings (Summary, Work Experience, Education, Skills) reads correctly every time.
Mistake #5
Missing keywords. If the job advert says “stakeholder management” and your CV says “worked with different departments,” the software may never connect the two. Match the employer’s exact terminology wherever it’s true of your experience.
None of these fixes require new experience, just a sharper presentation of what you already have. That’s the whole idea behind our CV packages: we don’t invent a new you; we make the real you impossible to overlook.
Ready to fix your CV before your next application? Book a HireEast.ng CV review — 09128034645
