Curriculum Vitae (CV) Writing Tips

Your CV has 3 principal jobs:

  • Enable you to get noticed by electronic recruitment tools (job boards)
  • Advertise your skills and experience in an effective enough way to open the door for an interview with prospective employers.
  • Be used in an interview as a guide for your prospective employer enabling you to highlight the most relevant information for the interviewer.

To achieve these things your CV should display your skills and expertise in a logical, easy to read manner using keywords and phrases that will be picked up both by electronic search tools but also prospective employers when they scan through your CV.


Key tips to a good looking, functional CV are:

  • Keep it to 3-4 pages maximum
  • Write a brief profile that highlights your most relevant skills for the job you want (use keywords that you believe an employer will be looking for when they scan a CV)
  • Put your most recent position first – use reverse chronology order
  • Bullet point your skills and experience (don’t write paragraphs)
  • Don’t write too much about your personal interests (a couple of notes is fine – you can get into personal interests if you get an interview)

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