Starting a CV begins with gathering your career details in one place, then organizing them into a clean, structured document that leads with your name and strongest qualifications. The process is straightforward once you know what to include, what order to put it in, and how to format it so both hiring managers and automated screening software can read it easily.
Gather Your Information First
Before you open a blank document, collect the raw material you’ll need. Trying to write and remember details at the same time leads to gaps and frustration. Pull together the following:
- Work history: For every relevant job, note the employer name, your job title, and the month and year you started and ended. Jot down three to five things you accomplished or were responsible for in each role.
- Education: School name, degree type, completion date, and GPA if it strengthens your application.
- Certifications and licenses: Include the issuing organization, the credential name, and the date earned or renewed.
- Skills: List both technical skills (software, tools, languages) and interpersonal skills (leadership, communication, project management) that relate to the jobs you want.
- Contact details: Full name, phone number, professional email address, and your city and state or region.
Having everything in front of you makes the actual writing far quicker. You’ll spend your time shaping language instead of hunting through old emails for dates.
Set Up the Document
Open a new file in Word, Google Docs, or a similar word processor. Use a standard page size (8.5 by 11 inches in the U.S., A4 in most other countries) with half-inch margins on all sides. Choose a clean, modern font like Calibri, Arial, or Aptos. Set the body text to 10 or 12 point and section headings to 14 or 16 point. These choices keep the document readable on screen and on paper, and they also work well with applicant tracking systems (ATS), the software many employers use to scan and filter CVs before a human ever sees them.
When you save the file, use a text-based PDF or a .docx Word document. In a survey of 1,000 U.S. hiring managers conducted by Resume Genius, 53% said text-based PDFs with no images parsed most reliably in their systems, while 43% preferred Word files. Avoid embedding images, tables with merged cells, or elaborate design elements, because ATS software often can’t read them.
Write Your Header and Contact Information
The very top of your CV is your header. Start with your full name in a larger font size so it stands out. If you have a professional title or credential that adds clear value (like “CPA” or “Licensed Electrician”), place it directly beneath or beside your name. Skip informal labels or taglines.
Immediately below your name, list your phone number, professional email address, and location (city and state is enough). You do not need to include your full street address. Do not include your Social Security number, date of birth, age, or a photo. These are unnecessary for most domestic applications and can introduce bias into the screening process.
If you’re applying internationally, requirements differ. Some countries expect a professional photo, date of birth, nationality, or marital status in the header. Research the norms for the specific country before adding or removing these details.
Craft a Professional Summary
Right below your contact information, add a short summary, sometimes labeled “Professional Summary,” “Career Profile,” or simply “Summary.” This is a two-to-five-sentence snapshot of who you are professionally. Think of it as your pitch: it tells the reader what you do, what you’re good at, and what kind of role you’re targeting.
To write an effective summary, look at a few job postings for roles you want and note the qualifications that come up repeatedly. Then match those against your own experience. Your opening sentence should describe your professional role (“Operations manager with eight years of experience in logistics and supply chain optimization”). Follow it with one or two lines highlighting specific skills, accomplishments, or areas of expertise that align with those common requirements.
If you’re a recent graduate or changing careers, use an objective statement instead. An objective focuses on where you’re heading and what transferable skills you bring, rather than summarizing a long work history you don’t yet have.
List Your Work Experience
This section is the core of most CVs. List your positions in reverse chronological order, starting with your most recent or current job. For each role, include:
- Job title
- Employer name
- Start and end dates (month and year)
- Three to five bullet points describing what you accomplished
Focus your bullet points on results rather than duties. “Managed a team” tells a hiring manager very little. “Managed a six-person sales team that exceeded quarterly targets by 15%” tells them a lot. Start each bullet with a strong action verb: led, designed, reduced, launched, increased, resolved. Wherever possible, attach a number, percentage, or dollar figure to your accomplishment.
Tailor this section for each application. Read the job posting carefully and mirror the language it uses. If the posting says “project coordination,” use that phrase instead of a synonym. This helps with ATS keyword matching and shows the human reader you’ve paid attention to what they’re asking for.
Add Your Education
Below work experience, list your education in reverse chronological order. Include the school name, degree type, and completion date. You can add your GPA if it’s strong and you graduated recently, but it becomes less relevant a few years into your career.
If you’re a recent graduate with limited work experience, move the education section above work experience so your strongest credential appears first. Once you have a few years of professional history, shift it back below.
Include a Skills Section
A dedicated skills section gives hiring managers a quick snapshot of your capabilities and gives ATS software specific keywords to match against the job posting. List hard skills (programming languages, software platforms, certifications, foreign languages) alongside soft skills (communication, problem-solving, teamwork) that are relevant to the role.
Keep this section scannable. A simple bulleted list or a short grouped format works well. Avoid rating your skills with bars or star graphics, as these don’t translate through ATS and can look arbitrary to a human reviewer.
Consider Optional Sections
If you have qualifications that don’t fit neatly into the sections above, add them at the end. Common additions include:
- Certifications: Industry credentials, safety training, or technical certifications.
- Volunteer work: Especially useful if it demonstrates leadership or skills relevant to the job.
- Publications: Important for academic or research-oriented roles.
- Professional affiliations: Membership in industry organizations that signal engagement with your field.
- Major projects: Significant initiatives that show your capabilities beyond day-to-day job duties.
Only include optional sections when they genuinely strengthen your application. Every line on your CV should earn its space.
Review, Tighten, and Save
Once you have a full draft, read it out loud. Awkward phrasing and filler words become obvious when you hear them. Cut any sentence that doesn’t tell the reader something new about your qualifications. Check every date, spelling, and job title for accuracy.
Most CVs for private-sector jobs should fit on one page if you have fewer than ten years of experience, and two pages if you have more. Academic CVs can run longer because they include publications, presentations, and research. Aim for concise, not cramped: white space makes the document easier to scan.
Save the final version as a PDF to lock in your formatting. Name the file clearly, something like “Jane-Smith-CV.pdf,” so it’s easy for a recruiter to find in a folder of downloads. Keep an editable copy in Word or Google Docs so you can tailor it quickly for each new application.