Employers have called on job candidates to cut confusing jargon from their CVs. A new survey has revealed that many employers are sick and tired of trying to understand confusing applications.

Research from the recruitment agency Office Angels showed over three-quarters (77%) of employers find interpreting CVs a minefield that they’d prefer not to navigate. Two-thirds (68%) of the 1,000 employers questioned admitted to being unsure whether they had made the right decision about a candidate because CVs were full of common and often clichéd statements.

Office Angels analysed 3,000 CVs and compiled a list of the most common phrases used by prospective job candidates. This was then circulated among employers to monitor their understanding of some of the most typical CV expressions.

Eight out of 10 (82%) of the employers asked said they made a decision on a CV based solely on grammar, spelling, choice of words, typeface and hobbies before they even looked closely at experience or qualifications.