Career resources · CV & Resume
Write a CV that gets read.
Your CV has about six seconds to earn a second look. Here's how to make them count — from the consultants who read thousands every year.
Most CVs fail for boring reasons: they're hard to scan, they describe duties instead of results, or they say nothing about the specific job they're chasing. The good news is that all three are fixable in an afternoon. Start with structure.
The five essentials
What a strong CV does.
Do this
- ✓Lead with a two-line profile that says what you are, what you're strongest at, and what you want next.
- ✓Quantify everything you can — budgets, team sizes, percentages, timelines. Numbers survive skim-reading.
- ✓Mirror the vocabulary of the roles you're targeting, because both tracking software and recruiters search for it.
- ✓Keep it to two pages unless you're an academic or a board-level candidate — density beats length.
- ✓Tailor the top third of the CV for every application; the rest can stay stable.
Avoid this
- ✕Don't bury your best work under a wall of responsibilities — results first, always.
- ✕Don't use decorative templates with tables and text boxes; many tracking systems can't read them.
- ✕Don't include a photo unless the market you're applying in expects one.
- ✕Don't list every job you've ever had — ten years of relevant history is plenty for most roles.
- ✕Don't send the same CV everywhere and hope; recruiters can tell, and so can hiring managers.
One last thing
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