Name your recruiting focus and hiring context up front
Open with a short summary that states your specialty—technical recruiting, volume hiring, executive search support, agency desk or in-house talent acquisition—and the environments you know, such as high-growth startups, enterprise IT or multi-site operations. Mention req load or regions when it helps a reader place your seniority.
Mirror posting language only when it matches work you have done. Claiming Boolean mastery, diversity sourcing or agency vendor management without examples invites hard process questions. Point readers to the pipelines, roles closed and hiring-manager partnerships that prove the skills the job emphasizes. Keep ER investigations, compensation banding ownership and L&D programs on an HR CV unless the role truly mixes them.
Write bullets that connect sourcing work to hiring outcomes
Strong recruiter bullets name the role family, your ownership and the result. Include time-to-fill or time-to-offer, pipeline conversion, offer-acceptance rate, interview-to-offer ratios, candidate experience scores or sourcer-to-recruiter handoff quality when they clarify impact. Prefer measured outcomes—days shortened, acceptance rates raised, pass-through improved—over vague claims that you are a “people person.”
The fictional examples below illustrate wording only. They are not Make.CV performance claims and should not be copied as your own. Replace every figure with results you can support with ATS reports. Never put confidential candidate names, compensation details or interview notes on a public CV.
Show ATS fluency and stakeholder craft without dumping every job board
Group skills into readable categories such as sourcing and Boolean search, ATS and CRM, interview coordination, employer brand touchpoints and stakeholder management. Prioritize tools named in the posting when you have genuine experience. A short accurate list of Greenhouse or Lever, LinkedIn Recruiter or Gem beats a long inventory of job boards you posted to once.
Tie important tools back to experience bullets. Saying you own Greenhouse pipelines is more convincing when a bullet explains stage definitions, SLA with hiring managers and what changed for time-to-offer. Highlight calibration meetings and structured feedback habits that improve quality of hire signals.
Choose a clean layout and review the export
Use a readable template with standard headings so role families, metrics and tools stay easy to find. Keep dates consistent and leave room for quantified bullets. Browse Make.CV templates if you want to compare layouts before writing.
Build your CV in the free maker with live preview, then download a PDF with no watermark. Check that ATS names, role titles and metric labels wrap cleanly. Confirm the exported text remains selectable before you submit.
Frequently asked questions
How is a recruiter CV different from an HR CV?
Recruiter CVs emphasize sourcing, pipeline ownership and hiring outcomes. HR CVs often cover broader people ops, employee relations and programs. Lead with talent acquisition unless the job is a true generalist mix.
Should I list every role I have ever filled?
No. Summarize role families and highlight a few representative closes that match the target job. Volume can appear as aggregate metrics instead of a long list.
How do I handle agency versus in-house experience?
Label the setting clearly and translate metrics so in-house readers understand them—for example, req ownership, client satisfaction or fill rates with context on desk mix.
Can I include diversity hiring metrics?
Yes when figures are accurate, approved for external use and framed as process improvements rather than quotas you cannot defend. Avoid sensitive individual data.