How to write a CV, step by step
A recruiter spends under a minute on the first pass. This guide covers what to include in a CV and in what order, how to word your experience so it lands, how long the document should be, and which conventions change when you apply abroad.
CV format: the sections, in order
This order suits most applications. If you are a student or a recent graduate, swap steps 3 and 4 — education is the strongest thing you have.
1. Contact details
Name, phone, email, city and optionally LinkedIn. No date of birth, no full street address. Use an email address made of your name.
2. Personal profile
Two to four lines on what you do and what you are after. This is the one part you rewrite for every application. Write it last — it is easier once the rest is on the page.
3. Work experience
Reverse chronological, most recent first. Job title, employer, dates, and two to four bullets on what you achieved. Not a job description — the employer already knows what the role involves.
4. Education
Degree, institution, dates. Include grades only if they are strong and you graduated recently. Once you hold a degree, secondary school can go.
5. Skills
Concrete tools, systems and disciplines. «Excel, SAP, project management» says something. «Structured, solution-oriented, team player» appears in every second CV and says nothing.
6. Languages
State the level honestly: native, fluent, conversational, basic. Claiming fluency in four languages gets tested in the interview.
7. Volunteering, courses and projects
These count as experience, especially early on. Include what shows responsibility or subject knowledge and drop the rest.
How to describe work experience — examples
The rule is the same every time: a verb, what you did, and what it produced. A number makes the sentence credible even when the number is small.
Responsible for customer service
Handled 40 customer enquiries a day and cut response time from two days to four hours
Worked on the accounts
Ran monthly accounts for four departments and reworked the process so closing took three days instead of ten
Involved in projects
Led the rollout of a new records system to 60 staff, delivered on schedule
Experience with sales
Grew repeat business from existing accounts by 18% over two years
How long should a CV be?
One page under five years of experience. Two pages above that. Three does not get finished.
When you run over, it is nearly always the oldest roles that need cutting. A job from 2009 deserves one line, not four bullets, and student jobs can disappear entirely once you have a decade behind you.
Academia is the exception. There a CV is a complete record of publications, teaching, grants and conferences, and length is not a fault.
CV or resume? What changes by country
The content barely changes. The conventions around personal details do, and getting them wrong is the fastest way to be filtered out.
Norway, Germany, most of continental Europe
Photo is normal. Date of birth is common but never required. Two pages is fine.
UK and Ireland
No photo, no date of birth, no marital status. Two pages is the norm rather than the ceiling.
United States and Canada
Ask for a resume, not a CV. One page, no photo, no personal details beyond contact information.
Australia and New Zealand
No photo. Two to three pages is accepted, and referees are often listed in full.
Applying to Norway specifically? CV for jobs in Norway covers what Norwegian employers expect, including references and documentation.
Write for the applicant tracking system too
Most larger employers run your CV through software before a person opens it. Two habits carry almost all of the benefit: mirror the wording of the advert, and keep the layout plain enough to parse. If the advert says «Kubernetes», write Kubernetes rather than «container orchestration». Tables, text boxes and multi-column PDFs confuse parsers, and a scanned image of a CV contains no text at all. Run an ATS check against a specific job advert to see which terms you are missing.
Where to go next
- CV maker – pick a template and fill in the sections you just planned.
- Cover letter – the letter should extend the CV, not repeat it.
- ATS check – test the finished CV against a real advert.
- Share CV – send a short link instead of an attachment.
Frequently asked questions
What should a CV include?
Contact details, a short profile of two to four lines, work experience in reverse chronological order, education, skills and languages. Volunteering, courses and projects belong there too when paid experience is thin. Everything else is optional, and most of the optional material costs you space you need.
How long should a CV be?
One page under five years of experience, two pages above that. Three pages do not get finished. The exception is academia, where a CV really is a complete record of publications and teaching and can run to ten pages or more.
What is the difference between a CV and a resume?
In Europe they are the same document: one or two pages, tailored to the job. In the United States a resume is that document, while a CV means the long academic record. If a European employer asks for a CV, they want the short version.
How do I write a CV with no experience?
Move education to the top, then list projects, coursework, volunteering, student societies and part-time work. Describe what you actually did and what came of it. Running the budget for a student society is relevant experience even though nobody paid you for it.
Should I put a photo on my CV?
It depends on the country. Photos are normal in Norway, Germany and much of continental Europe. Leave them off for the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada and Australia, where a photo invites discrimination claims and some employers discard applications that carry one.
What should I leave off a CV?
Date of birth, marital status, nationality, a full street address, religion and health information. Also skill bars with percentages, the line «references available on request», and hobbies with no bearing on the job.
Do I need to rewrite my CV for every application?
Not the whole thing, but the profile and the order of your skills should change per role. Use the wording from the advert: applicant tracking systems match on terms, and the human reading afterwards is looking for the same words.
How do I explain a gap in my CV?
State the dates and give a plain reason: study, caring responsibilities, illness, relocation, job hunting. An explained gap is a non-issue. An unexplained one becomes the first question in the interview.
Write your CV while this is fresh
Free, no card details. Pick a template, fill in the sections in the order above, and download the PDF when you are done.
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