The look of your CV can be decisive. Learn what belongs in a strong CV, which formats exist and how to tailor yours to the vacancy.
Your curriculum vitae is one of the most important parts of your application. With dozens of letters often arriving for a single vacancy, the look and feel of your CV can be decisive for whether the recruiter picks yours out of the pile.
What are the requirements for a good CV? What do you include and what do you leave out? How should it look, and how do you make it match your cover letter? The facts and tips below will help you on your way.
A curriculum vitae — CV for short — is a document that gives a concise summary of your life, mainly in terms of education and work. You show the reader who you are and what you can do.
A CV contains facts: relevant education, work experience, side activities, qualities and skills. Present them clearly so the recruiter quickly gets a good picture of you as a person and as an employee. Emphasise the parts that matter for the role you're applying for.
In most cases you send your CV together with a cover letter. The recruiter often reads the CV first and decides on that basis whether to read your letter. A polished CV is literally your ticket to the interview.
Lead with your strengths and let weaker points stay in the background. Keep it short and clear so the attention stays on the content.
There are several ways to structure a CV. Below we'll cover the most common.
A chronological CV is the most standard format. You divide it into sections and list items in reverse chronological order — most recent first.
In no more than five sentences, describe your skills and ambitions briefly but clearly, placed below your personal details.
A personal profile is especially useful if you've done many different things, or when your background doesn't seamlessly match the vacancy.
In your personal profile you write:
Writing a personal profile isn't easy — expect to redraft. Ask others to read it and check whether it really sounds like you.
Example: My name is Sandra, a hard-working, flexible administrative assistant with extensive experience in medium-sized organisations. My working style is best described as accurate and precise. I work focused, but value teamwork — and despite my serious work ethic, I appreciate a bit of humour at the office.
When you set up a chronological CV, walk through these steps:
A skills-based (or functional) CV groups your experience by skills, competencies, roles, work experience and achievements rather than by date. Useful for career switches, gaps in your CV, or freelancers.
It takes more work to write a good skills-based CV, but it can be powerful — there are no distracting dates or company names, just you as a person and professional.
Example: I speak French at near-native level, as my mother is French and our family lived in France for almost seven years. I attended a French school, but at home we spoke Dutch.
That says more than "fluent in French, written and spoken."
To stand out, candidates do all sorts of things — a CV printed on a cake, a personal magazine. It draws attention and sets you apart, but only consider it if it fits the sector and culture. If you're applying as a registered accountant, keep it businesslike.
Note: the form is in service of the content. A creative CV needs to grab attention, but the content must land. Use a strong opening and keep the structure clear, in short sentences and tight blocks.
A network CV is an extended profile, useful to spread through your network when you're job hunting, send to recruitment agencies, or use as an open application.
It contains roughly the same as a chronological or skills CV — plus the type of role you're looking for. A clear section on your qualities and competencies is essential.
If you want to send the same CV to multiple agencies or companies, a network CV is great. The flip side: it doesn't go deep on any one company's culture, which can come across as self-focused. Judge whether your situation suits it.
A Europass CV is a standard CV format recognised across the EU. Useful when applying abroad, or when you find it hard to structure a CV yourself.
You complete a form and classify most data using EU-defined frameworks. Education institutions have codes; language skills are split into six levels per language. The Europass CV combines with documents like the Europass Language Passport, Mobility Document, Diploma Supplement and Certificate Supplement to form a complete portfolio.
Competencies are your most important behavioural traits and skills, and recruiters look at them closely to decide whether you fit the role and the company.
A few common headaches when writing your CV: an unfinished study, a gap in your work history, redundancy. Do you mention them, and if so, how?
It's tempting to leave an unfinished study out, but your CV is meant to describe your life in education and work. Hiding it also creates a gap that recruiters notice. Be honest — usually there's an understandable reason (the field wasn't a fit, illness during studies). Frame it positively as a deliberate decision.
Be honest and emphasise your strengths. A gap doesn't have to hold you back. Name the reason — every employer will wonder. It could be a deliberate choice (raising children) or a redundancy. Don't bend the truth: if it surfaces later, your application is over.
If you've been made redundant, you don't necessarily have to mention it. Two ways to handle it:
Job hopping is more normal now, but recruiters still look critically at it. Reassure them:
Tips for "jobhoppers":
Stretching upward is fine, but stay realistic — some roles legally require a specific qualification (e.g. registered nurse). For others, compare your profile to the requirements and ask:
Then make a realistic call. If you want to apply, a skills-based CV (grouped by tasks and responsibilities rather than by period) usually works best.
Some things — pregnancy, disability — you may prefer to leave out, worried they'll hurt your chances. In theory the answer is simple; in practice less so.
By law, you don't need to mention current health or medical history in your CV. Employers aren't allowed to ask.
You are required to mention things that could prevent you from doing the job — e.g. tasks you can't perform due to a disability that are part of the role.
You decide what to include. Tips:
Pregnant? Congratulations. Use your judgement. If it's no longer hideable, there's no point in withholding it — it will come up in the interview. If it isn't visible yet, you may decide to wait. A first interview is mainly about fit.
With these handles you're ready to write a great CV. Bear in mind that employers regularly use CV verification to check your CV is accurate, and it's mandatory for roles where integrity is essential.
