Recruiters spend an average of six to ten seconds scanning a CV before deciding whether to read it properly or move on. That's not much time to make an impression — and yet most people spend hours writing a CV that gives a recruiter no compelling reason to stop. The good news is that getting it right isn't about magic words or a perfect template. It's about clarity, relevance, and making it genuinely easy for the person reading it to see why you're the right fit.
Whether you're applying for your first role or your fifteenth, these ten tips will help you write a CV that gets you in front of the right people — and past the automated filters that stand between you and the interview stage.
Tailor Your CV for Every Single Application
A generic CV is a forgettable CV. The single most impactful thing you can do is customise your CV for each role you apply to. That doesn't mean rewriting it from scratch every time — it means adjusting your personal statement, reordering your skills, and tweaking bullet points so that the most relevant experience rises to the top.
Read the job description carefully and note the specific skills, tools, and qualities they mention. Then make sure your CV reflects those directly — in your own words, with real examples. When a recruiter reads your CV, it should feel like it was written specifically for that role. Because it was.
Lead with a Strong Personal Statement
Your personal statement — the short paragraph at the top of your CV — is your first impression. Recruiters read it to quickly understand who you are, what you do, and what you're looking for. A weak personal statement is a wasted opportunity; a strong one draws them in and makes them want to read more.
Keep it to three or four sentences. Say what you are (your professional identity), what you're good at (your key strengths), and what you're looking for (aligned with the role). Avoid clichés like "hard-working team player" or "passionate about achieving results" — these phrases say nothing. Be specific. "Senior product manager with eight years' experience scaling SaaS products from seed to Series B" is vastly more compelling than "experienced professional with a track record of success."
Use Bullet Points, Not Paragraphs
Dense blocks of text are the enemy of a readable CV. Recruiters skim — they look for signals, not essays. Use concise bullet points under each role to describe what you did and what impact you had. Each bullet should be a standalone statement that works even if the reader only reads that one line.
Aim for three to five bullets per role. Start each one with a strong action verb — built, led, reduced, launched, managed, increased — and keep the language active and direct. Avoid starting bullets with "Responsible for" or "Involved in" — these are passive constructions that bury the impact of your actual contribution.
Quantify Your Achievements Wherever You Can
Numbers are convincing in a way that adjectives are not. "Increased sales revenue" is forgettable. "Increased sales revenue by 34% in six months by restructuring the outbound pipeline" is memorable — and believable. Wherever possible, add a number, percentage, timeframe, or scale to demonstrate the scope of your work.
Think about the metrics that mattered in each role. Did you manage a budget? Grow a team? Reduce churn? Speed up a process? Cut costs? Improve user retention? Even rough figures are better than none. "Reduced average onboarding time from three weeks to four days" tells a story that "streamlined the onboarding process" simply doesn't.
Keep It to Two Pages Maximum
Unless you're a senior academic or have twenty-plus years of highly relevant experience, your CV should be no longer than two pages. One page is perfectly fine for anyone in the first five years of their career. More than two pages signals that you struggle to edit — which is itself a red flag for many roles.
Ruthlessly cut anything that isn't relevant to the role you're applying for. That summer job from ten years ago, the generic hobby section, the long list of soft skills — all of it is space that could be used more effectively. Every line on your CV should earn its place by making you a more compelling candidate for this specific job.
Mirror the Language From the Job Description
Many companies use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to filter CVs before a human ever sees them. These systems scan for specific keywords and phrases from the job description. If your CV doesn't contain them, it may be automatically filtered out — regardless of how qualified you are.
Read the job description as if it's a brief you've been handed. Note the exact terminology they use — not just the skills, but the way they describe them. If they call it "stakeholder management," don't call it "managing relationships." If they list "Python" and "data analysis," make sure those exact phrases appear in your CV, in context. You're not keyword-stuffing — you're speaking their language.
Lead with Your Most Recent Experience
Always list your work experience in reverse chronological order, with your most recent role first. Recruiters want to see what you're doing now — your current role tells them more about your capabilities than a job you had five years ago. They'll scan the top of your experience section first, so make sure it's the strongest, most relevant material you have.
For older roles, especially those from more than ten years ago, it's perfectly acceptable to reduce them to a single line or even omit them entirely if they're not relevant to the role. The further back you go, the less detail you need.
Make Your Education Section Work Harder
If you're more than two or three years into your career, your education section should be concise — typically just your institution, qualification, and dates. For recent graduates, it's worth including relevant modules, a dissertation title, or any academic achievements that demonstrate skills relevant to the role.
Professional certifications, bootcamps, and continuing professional development can be just as valuable as formal qualifications — sometimes more so. Don't hide them. List any qualifications that are relevant to the role, and make sure they're current (particularly for technical certifications that expire).
Build a Skills Section That Means Something
A skills section stuffed with generic buzzwords — "communication," "leadership," "problem-solving" — adds nothing and wastes space. Recruiters have seen those words a thousand times and they carry no weight without evidence behind them.
Instead, focus on specific, verifiable skills. Technical tools, programming languages, platforms, methodologies, certifications — these are the things that get attention. Group them logically: technical skills separate from languages, for example. And if you list it, be prepared to discuss it in depth at interview. A skill you can't speak to confidently is worse than not listing it at all.
Proofread Ruthlessly — Then Do It Again
A single spelling mistake or grammatical error can cost you an interview. It suggests carelessness, poor attention to detail, or simply that you didn't think the application was worth your full effort. Recruiters notice, and many will put a CV with errors straight into the "no" pile.
Proofread your CV once, then take a break and proofread it again. Read it aloud — your ear catches errors your eye misses. Use a spell checker, but don't rely on it; it won't flag "manger" instead of "manager," or "form" instead of "from." Ask someone else to read it too. A fresh pair of eyes will spot things you've become blind to after staring at the document for hours.
The Bottom Line
A great CV isn't about a clever template or a list of impressive words. It's about making it as easy as possible for a busy recruiter to see, within ten seconds, that you're worth their time. Tailor relentlessly, quantify everything you can, cut anything that doesn't earn its place, and proofread until you'd stake your interview on it.
The best CV you'll ever write is the one that gets you in the room. Everything else follows from there.
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