CV writing fundamentals
How to Write a Professional CV: A Practical Step-by-Step Guide
A strong CV makes your value easy to understand. It gives recruiters the right evidence in the right order, uses clear language, and helps them quickly connect your experience to the role.
1. Start with the role you want
Before writing, review the job description and identify the responsibilities, skills, tools, and outcomes that appear most often. Your CV should be tailored around the strongest genuine overlap between those requirements and your experience.
You do not need to rewrite your entire career for every application. Adjust the profile, reorder the most relevant skills, and emphasize the experience points that best answer the employer’s needs.
2. Build a clear contact header
Place your name, professional title, location, phone number, email address, and a relevant professional link at the top. Use an email address that looks professional and check every link before exporting.
- Use the job title you are targeting when it accurately reflects your experience.
- Include a city and country; a full street address is usually unnecessary.
- Add LinkedIn, a portfolio, or a professional website only when it supports the application.
3. Write a focused professional profile
A professional profile is a short introduction of roughly three to five lines. Lead with your profession and level of experience, name your most relevant strengths, and finish with the kind of value you create.
Avoid vague statements such as “hard-working team player.” Replace them with a specific combination of expertise, scope, and results—for example, the type of customers you support, the size of programs you manage, or the improvements you have delivered.
4. Turn responsibilities into achievements
List experience in reverse chronological order. For each role, include the title, employer, location, dates, and concise bullet points. Start bullets with a strong action verb and explain what changed because of your work.
A useful formula is: action + task or challenge + measurable result. Not every bullet needs a number, but credible metrics make impact easier to understand.
- Weak: Responsible for monthly reporting.
- Stronger: Redesigned monthly performance reporting, reducing preparation time by 30% and giving leadership a single view of overdue actions.
- Keep the most important and relevant achievement near the top of each role.
5. Select relevant skills and credentials
Use a focused skills section rather than a long keyword list. Prioritize technical skills, role-specific methods, tools, languages, and leadership capabilities that you can demonstrate through your experience.
Education and certifications should be easy to scan. Include the qualification, institution, and completion year when useful. Recent graduates may place education higher; experienced professionals will usually lead with work history.
6. Review the final document
Check spelling, dates, tense, punctuation, and contact details. Make sure headings are consistent and that no line is crowded or clipped. Read the CV once for accuracy and once from a recruiter’s perspective: can the strongest reasons to interview you be found in the first half of the page?
Export a PDF for applications that require stable formatting. Keep an editable Word version for employers or recruiters who specifically request it.