Formula for an exceptional CV

CVs can be tricky – they’re business documents that are also highly personal.

Getting the right degree of objective distance from ourselves is not easy, and then there’s the vexed issue of selecting the right details from our career. What to put in; what to leave out.

While there is no one correct way to write a CV – everyone’s story is different – successful CVs have a common characteristic: they look forward, not backwards. A strong CV is not about what we have done in the past, but what we can do for our next employer.

How to start a CV

Past achievements and experiences have their place in a CV but not at the top of the document. The best way to start a CV is with a bullet pointed list of the skills we possess that meet an employer’s needs.

For example, if an employer wants someone to lead a communications team of six, we should let them know early on that we have, “Led a high performing communications team of eight”. Detailing the size of the team makes the point more memorably than a more general statement such as “proven leadership experience”. The right detail can bring the words to life.

Listing our specific skills at the start of our CV, provides the busy, time-poor hiring manager with a snapshot of our abilities. It also invites them to dive into the career summary, which is the heart of our CV, and where we list our achievements and catalogue our experiences.

The skills we have listed at the top of the CV should guide what we include in the career summary. The skill list can help identify the experiences, achievements and lessons we need to highlight to show and employer how we have developed our skills.

This approach will help avoid the danger of burying our story under a deadening flurry of pointless detail. It will energise our CVs, making them less of a greatest hits and more of a manifesto about what we can and will do in the future.

Update your CV

If you’re in the market for a new role and want to update your CV, you can download a copy our recommended template here.