A successful CV makes it easy for an employer to see what you can do, how well you have done it and why that matters for the vacancy. Clear presentation helps create a strong first impression; relevant evidence gives the reader a reason to look more closely.
Use these ten practical tips to write a good CV, choose a suitable template and avoid common mistakes. Keep a master copy of your experience, then adapt it for each application.
1. Get to the point and make a clear first impression
Put your name prominently at the top, followed by a phone number and professional email address that you check regularly. Add a relevant LinkedIn profile or portfolio link if it strengthens the application. Check every number, letter and link: an employer needs to be able to reach you.
Use short paragraphs, clear section headings and concise bullet points. Give the most space to the experience that matters for this job. Older or less relevant roles can usually be summarised while keeping your employment timeline clear. Two pages is a useful starting point for many UK applications, but follow the employer’s instructions and the conventions of your field.
A reader should be able to identify your main skills and achievements quickly. Ask someone unfamiliar with your background to scan the CV and tell you what stands out. For more detail on section order and layout, see our guide to CV structure and format.
2. Customise your CV for the role
Read the advert and person specification before you edit. Note the essential qualifications, responsibilities, tools and skills, then match each important requirement to evidence from your own experience. Research the employer’s products, services and customers so you understand the context of the job.
Adapt your profile, skills section and the examples under your relevant roles. For a leadership vacancy, highlight coaching, delegation or team results; for a customer service role, show how you resolved problems and supported customers. Keep jobs in a clear chronological order, while placing the most relevant bullets first within each role.
For example, an applicant who has resolved returns queries, trained new starters and organised a staff quiz should put the returns example first for a customer support vacancy. Training can follow; the quiz may need only a brief mention or no space at all. This selects evidence without changing the job title or employment dates.
You do not need to start from a blank page every time. Copy your master CV and select the evidence that fits. Our focused guide explains why and how to tailor your CV to each job, including how to demonstrate commercial awareness.
3. Explain relevant gaps clearly
A career break does not need a lengthy explanation. Where a gap would make your timeline unclear, add a short, accurate entry such as “Career break for caring responsibilities” or “Career break, followed by a return to professional training”. You can choose how much personal detail to share; private medical or family information is not necessary.
Mention learning, volunteering or projects completed during a break if they are relevant and true. Check your dates rather than changing them to conceal a gap.
4. Write a focused personal statement
A short profile near the top can connect your background with the role. In two or three sentences, explain who you are professionally, identify a relevant strength or achievement, and show what you could contribute. Avoid unsupported claims such as “hardworking team player”.
For example: “Customer service adviser with three years’ experience handling online and telephone enquiries. Introduced a shared response guide that helped colleagues answer routine queries consistently. Seeking to bring clear communication and complaint-resolution skills to a customer support team.” Use examples as a structure, replacing the details with your own experience.
Keep this summary specific and avoid repeating the whole CV. See how to write a personal statement for your CV for the full guide.
5. Keep a record of your progress
Record achievements as they happen instead of trying to remember everything when you next apply. Note promotions, training, qualifications, new responsibilities, positive feedback and completed projects. For each achievement, capture the problem, your contribution, the result and the timescale.
Review performance notes and records you are authorised to use to check the details. Keep confidential customer or employer information out of your application. A simple achievement log gives you a reliable bank of examples to draw on for your CV and interviews.
Example achievement-log entry
Fictional working note; retain the source privately and exclude confidential details from applications.
- Problem
- Colleagues were giving different answers to routine returns queries.
- Contribution
- I drafted a response guide; the supervisor checked the policy wording and the team trialled it.
- Outcome
- The supervisor approved the guide for new-starter induction.
- Date / period
- Drafted March 2026; approved after the April 2026 trial.
- Source of any figure
- No performance figure claimed. Approval email and induction checklist confirm adoption; no response-time comparison was collected.
6. Show achievements with evidence
Describe what changed because of your work, alongside the responsibilities needed to explain your role. Begin bullets with an accurate action verb such as “created”, “led”, “resolved” or “improved”. Include scale, timescale and measurable results when you have reliable figures.
The log in tip 5 becomes: “Drafted a returns-query guide, checked with the supervisor and adopted for new-starter induction after a team trial.” It identifies the applicant’s work and a confirmed outcome. It does not claim faster replies, because the log contains no measurements to support that.
If you do not have figures, describe a concrete outcome: a process adopted by colleagues, a problem resolved, positive feedback or a project delivered to its agreed deadline. For a career change, choose examples that demonstrate transferable skills rather than relying on job titles.
Our work-history guide explains how to select and organise these examples. Use STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) or CAR (Challenge, Action, Result) to plan them, then condense the useful detail into readable CV bullets. For qualities such as teamwork or communication, see our guide to soft skills on your CV.
7. Keep every claim honest and precise
Check employment dates, job titles, qualifications and the scope of your responsibilities. Describe your own contribution to a team result without taking credit for everyone’s work. If you are learning a tool or studying towards a qualification, say so rather than presenting it as completed expertise.
For example, “Currently completing a project management qualification” is clearer than claiming to be qualified already. Be prepared to explain any achievement at interview. A template or example can help you organise your words, but the experience and evidence must be yours.
8. Check for common CV mistakes
Proofread in separate passes: content and relevance first, then dates and contact details, then spelling and layout. Read the CV aloud, use spellcheck and ask a trusted person for a second review. Automated checks can miss correctly spelt words used in the wrong context, such as “manger” instead of “manager”.
- Spelling and grammar: check company names, job titles, headings and consistent tense.
- Duties without evidence: add examples of what you achieved and how you achieved it.
- Clichés without support: replace “great communicator” with a brief example of communication that helped solve a problem.
- Incorrect contact details: test your email address, phone number and portfolio links.
- Generic or irrelevant content: remove detail that distracts from the vacancy and check that no previous employer’s name remains in a tailored profile or cover letter.
- Formatting problems: check spacing, page breaks, bullet alignment and any template placeholder text.
9. Use a CV template as a starting point
A template provides a ready-made layout, saving time on margins, fonts and section spacing. It can be especially helpful for a first CV, because the headings prompt you to include key information. Browse our free CV templates for a design suited to your experience and the role.
Choose a readable layout with clear headings, consistent fonts and enough white space. A restrained design is often a useful choice; for creative roles, colour can work if it does not obscure the content. Check the template’s notes and the employer’s application instructions before choosing a more complex layout.
A template does not guarantee compatibility with an applicant tracking system (ATS). If an online application extracts information from your CV, a simple layout with conventional headings and selectable text can make it easier to check the extracted information. Review any fields the system fills in and correct mistakes.
Two examples from our inspected previews illustrate the choice:
- British CV template: its single main column, clear section headings and work-history space make it a useful starting layout for an applicant with relevant employment. Shorten the sample’s long profile and replace every claim with your own evidence. The layout alone cannot establish compatibility with every recruitment system.
- Graduate CV template: its education column keeps qualifications visible beside the profile and experience, which may suit a graduate whose study is relevant. It uses tables and a two-column arrangement; editing can change the balance, and an upload system may read the columns in an unexpected order. Check the downloaded file and any extracted fields, or choose a simpler layout if required.
Move or remove sections to fit your circumstances: education may deserve more prominence for a recent graduate, while relevant work experience may lead for an experienced applicant. Remove sample text and unused sections. The design is a framework; you still need to write and tailor the content.
Use the file format requested by the employer. If PDF is accepted, check the exported file for broken page layouts and selectable text; if a Word document is requested, supply that instead. Open the final attachment before sending it.
10. Use relevant keywords naturally
Use the employer’s terminology where it accurately describes your skills, tools and experience. If an advert asks for Excel pivot tables and you used them, “Worked with spreadsheets” could become “Used Excel pivot tables to summarise weekly orders by product category.” This names the actual technique; it does not turn basic spreadsheet use into advanced modelling. Do not add qualifications or skills you lack, change official job titles misleadingly, or repeat keywords without context.
Relevant language helps readers connect your experience to the vacancy, but no wording can guarantee selection. Check the CV and cover letter together, use a clear filename such as “Firstname-Lastname-CV”, and save the version you submitted so you can refer to it when preparing for interview.
Final checking sheet: use it with the finished file
Work through these checks after tailoring. Copy the sheet into your notes and record the change you make for each problem.
1. Contact and first impression
What to inspect: Open the email and portfolio links; inspect the attachment’s first page.
What a problem looks like: Broken link, mistyped phone number or key evidence buried.
What to change: Correct the actual destination or number and bring relevant information into view.
2. Relevance
What to inspect: Compare essential requirements with the selected evidence.
What a problem looks like: A strong but unrelated achievement takes most space.
What to change: Move the matching example first and shorten unrelated detail.
3. Chronology
What to inspect: Read job and break dates in sequence.
What a problem looks like: Dates overlap without explanation or were altered to hide a gap.
What to change: Verify month/year dates and add a brief accurate explanation where needed.
4. Profile
What to inspect: Read the opening sentences against the vacancy.
What a problem looks like: Long autobiography or generic claims without evidence.
What to change: Keep a few relevant sentences with a concrete supporting fact.
5. Achievement log
What to inspect: Trace each result to a note, record or clear recollection.
What a problem looks like: A percentage has no baseline, period or source.
What to change: Verify the figure or use an observable outcome you can support.
6. Achievement bullets
What to inspect: Identify the action and outcome in each main example.
What a problem looks like: Only duties, or an outcome with no explanation of your role.
What to change: Add your contribution and the result without copying the entire log.
7. Accuracy
What to inspect: Check titles, dates, qualification status and team attribution.
What a problem looks like: A course in progress is presented as completed.
What to change: State the actual status and limit claims to your responsibility.
8. Proofreading
What to inspect: Read company names, tense, spelling and template placeholders.
What a problem looks like: A previous target employer’s name remains.
What to change: Correct it, then read the edited sentence in context.
9. Layout and file
What to inspect: Open the final Word/PDF file and inspect every page.
What a problem looks like: Orphaned heading, split bullet, unreadable text or wrong file type.
What to change: Adjust spacing/page breaks and export again in the requested format.
10. Terminology and submission
What to inspect: Check named tools against real experience and save the final version.
What a problem looks like: Keyword repeated without evidence or wrong attachment selected.
What to change: Use the precise term once in context and open the attachment before sending.
