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CV Writing

Complete CV Writing Guide and Enhancement Tips

Build a relevant CV with clear structure, verified achievements, and practical formatting checks. Understand professional versus academic CVs and country-specific conventions.

Updated September 10, 202615 min read7 sections

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CV Writing Guide: Structure, Formatting, and Evidence for Your Application

This CV writing guide explains how to choose a document type, length, structure, and file format for your application. Professional CV conventions differ by country, and academic CVs serve a different purpose. The guidance draws on career services, official resources, and ATS documentation.

Hiring conditions differ by industry, geography, and experience level. A useful CV makes relevant qualifications easy to identify without overstating what formatting or tailoring can achieve.

What is a CV, and how is it different from a resume?

A professional CV is a targeted record of relevant experience, education, skills, and achievements used for commercial and professional applications in the UK and other markets. An academic CV is a comprehensive scholarly record that can include publications, teaching, grants, and presentations.

Resume: a trimmed, achievement-focused version of the same record, filtered toward a specific job and usually one or two pages for industry applications.

Cover letter: a short letter explaining why you and one organisation are a fit, sent alongside the CV.

Harvard’s Mignone Center for Career Success makes the split plainly: a resume is “a brief, informative document,” while a CV used in academic settings “will include more credentials relevant to academia and research, such as publications, presentations, and references.” MIT’s career office frames it in terms of space instead — a resume values “brevity, relevance, value added, efficiency,” while an academic CV values a “comprehensive scholarly record.”

Document Typical purpose Common length
Professional CV (UK and other markets) Applying for commercial and professional roles Usually 1–2 pages
US/Canadian resume Targeted job application highlighting relevant qualifications and achievements Usually 1–2 pages
Academic CV Comprehensive academic and research history, including publications, teaching, grants, and presentations Multiple pages as needed
Cover letter Explaining motivation, relevant qualifications, and employer fit Usually 1 page

MIT’s longer CV guidance addresses academic applications. It should not be applied indiscriminately to professional CVs in the UK or Europe.

Is it a CV or a resume? It depends where you are applying

Use the local term and an appropriate format, following the employer’s instructions.

MIT’s career office puts it directly: in the United States, “the term ‘resume’ is used for industry and other non-academic positions,” while “in some international settings, the term ‘CV’ is used for all opportunities — however, you should tailor your document based on position type.”

Market Usual term What tends to be expected
United States, Canada Resume Usually 1–2 pages; photos and date of birth generally omitted
United Kingdom, Ireland CV Usually 1–2 pages; photos, date of birth, and marital status generally omitted
Germany, Austria, Switzerland Lebenslauf Reverse-chronological; photo conventions vary by employer and role; a signature is not a universal requirement
France CV A photo is optional; follow the employer’s instructions and use relevant career information
European Union (cross-border) Europass CV is the best-known format, and it can be generated in 31 languages Reverse-chronological, tailored to the vacancy
Japan rirekisho (履歴書), sometimes with a separate shokumukeirekisho (職務経歴書) Traditional forms commonly include a photograph field; follow the employer’s requested format
Australia, New Zealand Resume Two pages, no photo
India Resume, sometimes called a CV Usually 1–2 pages; follow employer and upload-portal format instructions

The single most useful piece of career advice here is unglamorous: read the employer’s own instructions. Harvard’s career centre observed in September 2026 that reviewers “work from carefully tailored rubrics and keywords drawn from the job description.”

How long should a CV be in 2026?

For industry applications, one page is often suitable for students and early-career professionals, while two pages may be appropriate when additional relevant experience justifies the space. Academic and research CVs can be considerably longer. Follow the employer’s instructions and prioritize relevance over arbitrary experience thresholds.

MIT’s career guidance distinguishes concise resumes from comprehensive academic CVs. Length conventions are guidance, not a technical ATS limit.

What is ATS optimization, and what does an applicant tracking system actually parse?

ATS-friendly formatting aims to reduce extraction problems. Separately, job-description alignment makes supported qualifications easier to find. Parsing, eligibility filtering, keyword matching, and AI ranking are distinct functions; not every employer uses all of them.

Applicant tracking system (ATS): a database that receives applications, extracts structured fields from uploaded CV files, and lets recruiters filter, sort and search candidates on those fields.

Vendor documentation is the most honest source, because it describes what breaks. Greenhouse’s support documentation (updated 2 March 2026) lists the layouts that defeat its parser:

  • Contact details placed in a header, footer or text box
  • Columned layouts
  • Complex tables, headers and footers
  • Graphics, photos and word art
  • Resumes uploaded as an image rather than a document
  • Letterspaced words, which the parser reads as separate tokens
  • Incomplete job titles such as “Sr. Account Exec” instead of “Senior Account Executive”

Greenhouse also sets hard limits: its parser cannot handle files larger than 2.5 MB, and its resume parser supports a specific list of languages including English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Japanese and Korean (source, updated 6 May 2026).

MIT’s career office reaches the same conclusion independently, advising candidates to “avoid placing information into tables or text boxes,” to keep type at 10pt or larger, and to save a plain-text copy as a self-test: “save it as a plain text (.txt) file. This will remove much of the formatting and keep just the text of your document so you can verify if anything is distorted or missing.”

A plain-text export can reveal missing or scrambled content. It is a useful self-check, but it does not reproduce every employer’s parser.

Which file format should you send: DOCX or PDF?

Follow the employer’s file-format instructions first. A text-based PDF preserves layout and is accepted by many recruitment platforms, while a simple DOCX file may parse more reliably in some systems. If both formats are accepted and there is no other guidance, either can be suitable; verify that the content remains selectable and correctly ordered.

Format ATS parsing How it renders Submission guidance
PDF (text-based, not a scan) Supported by many platforms; extraction depends on document structure Generally preserves layout Suitable when accepted; check selectable text and reading order
DOCX Widely supported; simple layouts reduce parsing risks Can reflow on odd systems Suitable when accepted; check layout and reading order
RTF Supported by Greenhouse alongside DOC, DOCX, PDF and TXT Consistent Acceptable fallback
Plain text (.txt) Simple to extract but not a guarantee of compatibility No formatting at all Use as a self-test, not as a submission
Image or scanned PDF Not parsed; OCR quality varies Looks fine to you Never
Google Docs link Varies by portal; often expires Inconsistent Upload a real file instead

Greenhouse’s supported formats list, updated 19 August 2026, covers DOC, DOCX, PDF, RTF and TXT up to 100 MB per upload — with the separate caveat that its parser stops at 2.5 MB. That gap is worth internalising: a large upload can be accepted and still fail to parse.

Should a CV have a photo?

CV photograph conventions vary by country, employer, and role. Photos are generally avoided on UK, US, and Canadian professional applications, while they remain common in some European and Japanese formats. Check local expectations and the employer’s instructions rather than treating a regional convention as a universal requirement.

The official Europass CV guidance recommends a professional photograph, but that does not make photographs a universal requirement across Europe. France’s Service-Public guidance describes a photograph as optional. Traditional Japanese forms commonly have a photo field; follow the requested format.

Should you put your date of birth, gender, marital status or nationality on a CV?

Professional applications in the UK, US, and Canada generally omit date of birth, gender, marital status, and nationality unless relevant instructions or requirements apply. Other countries and prescribed forms may differ. Check the current local format and employer instructions before supplying personal details; a customary field is not automatically a legal requirement.

The UK Information Commissioner’s recruitment guidance emphasizes collecting only information needed for recruitment. Keep routine CV content focused on relevant qualifications. Information about work authorization, when requested, can be handled through the application process.

Is a chronological CV better than a functional one?

Use reverse-chronological for almost every professional CV, and save functional formatting for a career-break situation where you genuinely need it.

Approach Structure Best for Main risk
Reverse-chronological Roles listed newest first with employer, title, and dates Almost all industry and academic applications Long early-career histories expose thin experience
Functional Skills grouped, employers listed under each Career changers and people with a significant employment gap Can make employment dates, job titles, and employer relationships less clear to recruiters and some parsing systems
Hybrid Reverse-chronological roles with a skills block on top Experienced candidates with a narrow technical profile The skills block becomes keyword dumping if not written honestly

The EU’s own Europass guidance is unambiguous on ordering: “Always list the most recent experience on the top followed by previous ones,” with an explanation for long gaps in work or study.

What is the most common CV mistake?

One common CV weakness is relying on generic responsibility descriptions rather than specific evidence of experience and results. A stronger CV demonstrates how the candidate’s work relates to the requirements of the role. The cited sources do not establish a single leading cause of rejection.

Other useful checks include whether the CV highlights relevant job requirements and whether every claim can be defended in an interview.

How do you quantify achievements?

Quantify achievements when reliable numbers are available, such as revenue generated, time saved, project scale, team size, or measurable improvements. When precise metrics are unavailable, describe the scope, complexity, decisions, and outcomes using verifiable details. Never invent results to make a bullet appear stronger.

Harvard’s panel recommends quantifying where appropriate and gave a specific example: if you helped write a grant proposal, the award amount conveys the significance. The same session proposed a P-A-R framework — Project (the what), Action (the how), Result (the final output) — as a structure for every bullet.

The CV writing guide in 10 steps, from blank page to submission

  1. Read the job description and identify its actual required and preferred qualifications. Copy the exact terms for the tools, certifications and standards it names.
  2. Choose the right document type and length for the market using the tables above, before you write a single bullet.
  3. Build an evidence bank. List every role, project and qualification with dates, numbers and named tools. Do not write prose yet.
  4. Write bullets using P-A-R, keeping each to two lines maximum.
  5. Order in reverse-chronological format and trim less relevant material to suit the application.
  6. Strip the layout back. No text boxes, no tables, no columns, no icons, one legible font at 10pt or larger.
  7. Save a plain-text copy and read it. If names, titles or dates are missing or scrambled, fix the source document before you upload anything.
  8. Tailor the top third. Reorder sections and reword bullets so the most relevant evidence appears first for this specific role.
  9. Check the file name and format, then upload. For example, use Firstname-Lastname-CV.pdf or Firstname-Lastname-CV.docx, matching the required file format.
  10. Log what you sent so you can revise it for the next application rather than starting from zero.

What does a professional CV template look like?

Below is a skeleton. It is a structure, not a design — the point is the order of information and the fact that everything sits in the main body of the document.

FIRSTNAME LASTNAME
City, Country | +1 555 123 4567
firstname.lastname@example.com
linkedin.com/in/yourprofile

SUMMARY (3 lines maximum)
Role you are targeting. Years of relevant experience. One verified result or relevant contribution.

EXPERIENCE
Job Title — Employer, City                    MM/YYYY – MM/YYYY
  • Action verb + what you did + the method you used + the result (number, %, £, time saved)
  • Second achievement, quantified when reliable figures are available
  • Tool or standard you used that matches the job description

JOB TITLE — Employer, City                  MM/YYYY – MM/YYYY
  • ...

EDUCATION
Degree, Institution                                          MM/YYYY
  • Dissertation or final-year project, if relevant
  • Grade, if strong

SKILLS
  Grouped by type: Languages | Tools and platforms | Methodologies
  Terms copied from the job description, each one you could be asked about

CERTIFICATIONS AND PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP
  Name — Issuer, year

Keep the information in the single-column body. The template omits personal demographic fields; check country-specific requirements and employer instructions separately.

Before and after: one bullet rewritten

The following is an illustrative formatting example. The person is fictional and the figures are invented to show structure, not to report anyone’s results.

Before — typical duty description

Responsible for the company social media accounts and reporting to the marketing manager on performance.

After — P-A-R with a number

Rebuilt the Instagram content calendar across three channels, adding a weekly analytics review that cut average post-production time from 12 hours to 5 and lifted engagement from 2.1% to 4.6% in two quarters.

What changed:

  • The verb moved from “responsible for” to “rebuilt.”
  • Scope is quantified: three channels, two quarters.
  • Time and rate figures replace “performance.”
  • The tool and method are named so the bullet can be matched against a job description.

Frequently asked questions

Does an applicant tracking system reject CVs that use graphics or tables?

Graphics, tables, text boxes, and columns can cause partial or unsuccessful parsing. That is separate from automatic rejection. Greenhouse documents cases where the file remains attached and recruiters complete missing fields manually. Other platforms and employer configurations may handle these issues differently.

Is a two-page CV too long?

Two pages may be appropriate for an industry application when the additional material is relevant. Academic CVs can be longer. Follow the employer’s instructions rather than treating two pages as a universal ceiling.

Do ATS optimisation tools actually tell you anything useful?

They can flag formatting risks and gaps against a job description, but their scores are proprietary and do not reproduce a specific employer’s system. A plain-text export is a useful extraction check, not a guarantee of ATS compatibility.

Should I write a cover letter?

Write one when there is something to say that the CV cannot: a career pivot, a gap, a reason for wanting this particular employer. Harvard’s panel suggested exactly this, recommending a letter that runs “perpendicular” to the resume. Some employers do not read cover letters closely, so never let yours be a restatement of the CV.

How should I handle a career gap?

Name it, date it and explain it in one line. Accuracy is non-negotiable: France’s Service-Public notes that deliberately false information on a CV can justify dismissal for serious misconduct, and that employers may verify qualifications with previous employers.

Should my CV be in the first person?

Professional CV and resume bullet points generally omit first-person pronouns and begin with action verbs. For example, “Led a five-person marketing team” is more concise than “I led a five-person marketing team.” Use first-person writing only when appropriate for a personal statement or a format that specifically calls for it.

Does the job market justify rewriting every application?

Competition and hiring conditions differ considerably by industry, geography, and experience level. Tailoring a CV to the actual job requirements can make relevant skills and achievements easier to identify. Candidates should prioritize targeted, evidence-based adjustments rather than rewriting every section for every application.

For context, BLS reported September 2026 payroll growth of 29,000 and unemployment of 4.2%. These aggregate figures do not establish which CV revision strategy causes more interviews.

Review the most relevant sections for each vacancy, and retain accurate material that already fits the role.

Principles for the final review

Prioritize verifiable evidence over adjectives, use keywords meaningfully, and choose length and formatting for the role and market. AI editing can help organize material, but every claim still needs to be checked against your own experience.

The short version

Choose the appropriate professional or academic document, follow the employer’s file-format instructions, and check that the text can be extracted in a sensible order. Use reliable metrics where available and verifiable qualitative detail elsewhere. Tailor the most relevant sections to the vacancy, and check local expectations before adding a photograph or personal details.

Sources

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