How to write a CV that gets interviews

A good CV has one job: get you to the interview. Recruiters spend seconds on a first pass, so clarity beats cleverness every time. This guide walks through what to include, how to order it, and the small details that make a CV easy to say yes to.

Start with the structure

Most strong CVs follow the same order, because it matches how a recruiter reads:

1. Header — your name, role/title, and contact details (email, phone, city, and a link to a portfolio or LinkedIn if relevant).
2. Summary — two or three lines on who you are and what you do well. Skip it if you're early-career and short on space.
3. Experience — most recent first, with results, not just duties.
4. Education — degree, institution, and dates. Move this above experience only if you're a recent graduate.
5. Skills — a short, scannable list of the tools and abilities that matter for the role.
6. Extras — projects, languages, or certifications, where they add value.

Keep it to one page early in your career, and rarely more than two later on.

Write experience as results, not a job description

The single biggest upgrade you can make is turning duties into outcomes. Lead each bullet with a strong verb and, wherever you can, a number.

• Weak: "Responsible for managing social media accounts."
• Better: "Grew Instagram following from 2k to 15k in eight months by shipping a weekly content series."

Numbers don't have to be huge — percentages, time saved, or volume handled all signal impact. Three to five tight bullets per role is plenty.

Tailor it to the role

Generic CVs read as generic. Before you apply, reread the job description and mirror its language for the skills you genuinely have. Keeping a separate version of your CV per role makes this fast — you adjust the summary and reorder a few bullets rather than rewriting from scratch.

Make it easy to skim — and to parse

Recruiters skim, and many companies run CVs through applicant tracking systems (ATS) first. Both reward the same thing: clean, predictable formatting.

• Use a single, readable font and consistent spacing.
• Prefer a simple layout; heavy graphics and multi-column tricks can confuse ATS parsers.
• Export as a PDF with real, selectable text (not a flattened image), so the text can be read by both humans and software.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Typos and inconsistent dates — proofread, then read it again out loud.
• A wall of text — white space is your friend.
• Listing every job since school — keep the last 10–15 years, focused on relevance.
• Vague soft-skill claims — "great communicator" means nothing without evidence; show it in a bullet instead.

Build it in minutes

You don't need to fight a word processor to get a clean result. The free CV Builder gives you recruiter-friendly templates, guided sections, drag-and-drop reordering, and a print-ready PDF export — and everything stays in your browser, with no sign-up. Draft once, then keep a tailored version per role.