Step 1: Write a focused summary
Put your name, professional email address, phone number and relevant location at the top. Include a portfolio or professional profile if it supports your application, and check that the link works.
Draft two or three sentences explaining your background, strongest relevant skills and the kind of contribution you can make. Replace broad adjectives with evidence. If you are starting out, use coursework, projects or volunteering rather than implying professional experience you do not have.
Step 2: Turn experience into evidence
List recent roles first, with the role title, organization and consistent dates. Under each role, select a few bullets that demonstrate the responsibilities in the target job. Older or unrelated work usually needs less detail.
Start each bullet with an action, explain what you worked on and describe the result. Use numbers only when you can support them. If no reliable metric exists, explain the scope, deliverable or improvement instead of inventing one.
Steps 3 and 4: Select skills and education
Choose skills that match the role and that you could demonstrate in an interview. Group technical tools or languages into readable categories. Support skills such as communication or teamwork with examples in your experience rather than relying on an unsupported list.
Add your qualification, institution and graduation date, or expected graduation date. Students can put education before experience and include relevant projects or coursework. Experienced applicants can keep this section shorter so recent achievements have room.
Step 5: Review for relevance and readability
Compare the draft with the job description. Check that the strongest evidence is easy to spot, remove repeated claims and proofread names, dates and contact details. Keep a concise job CV; academic applications may ask for a longer record of research and publications.
Preview the layout, download the PDF and inspect page breaks, links and selectable text. Use this page as your writing sequence, then visit CV Tips for more focused edits or the role guides for examples you can adapt honestly.
Frequently asked questions
What order should CV sections follow?
Start with contact details and a short summary, then prioritize your strongest evidence. Experience usually comes next; students can put education and relevant projects earlier.
How long should my CV be?
Use the space needed to show relevant evidence clearly. One page is often enough for a first job CV; more experienced applicants may need two. Follow any employer-specific requirements.
Should I write a new CV for every job?
Keep a master version and tailor the summary, skills and selected bullets to each role. Keep all dates, qualifications and claims accurate.