Make the useful things easy to find.
A CV is not your life story and it is not a design project. It is a document someone skims in under a minute, so the useful things need to be near the surface.
We will always talk to you about your CV before it goes anywhere, and it is never sent to a business without your agreement.
What helps a reader
Most CVs are not weak on content. They are weak on findability.
Responsibilities, not just titles
Two people with the same job title can be doing entirely different jobs. A line or two on what you were actually responsible for is worth more than the title above it.
Scale and context
How large was the team, the office, the reception, the client base? Context tells a reader whether your experience matches their environment.
Plain formatting
One column, clear headings, sensible dates, no photographs, no charts of skill levels. Anything decorative competes with what you are trying to say.
Continuous dates
Gaps are normal. Unexplained gaps invite guesswork, so a short factual note is better than a silence.
Current contact details
Obvious, and still one of the most common problems. Make sure the email address is one you check.
Two pages, honestly written, will beat six pages of everything you have ever done.
If a role from fifteen years ago is not relevant to where you are going, a single line will do. Give the space to the recent work that shows what you can be trusted with now.
Worth avoiding
Stretching the truth
Dates, titles and responsibilities are checked, and being caught out is a much bigger problem than the gap you were covering.
Copying the job advert
Mirroring the wording back rarely convinces anyone. Describing what you did in your own words does.
A profile that says nothing
If the opening paragraph could sit on anybody's CV, it is taking up room. Either make it specific or leave it out.
Speak to us
Send us what you have. If something needs reworking we will tell you, and we will tell you why.