How to write a professional CV: a step-by-step guide

Every decision later in this process depends on one question: what job is this CV trying to win? Not "a job in marketing" but a level, a function and, ideally, a market. A CV aimed at a senior finance role in London and one aimed at a mid-level analyst role in Sydney share a lot of raw material but very little final wording.

Collect three to five job postings that represent where you want to go next. Read them side by side and note what repeats: the responsibilities, the tools, the qualifications, the phrases. That overlap is your brief. It tells you which parts of your history deserve space and which can shrink to a line.

Pay attention to the order in which postings list requirements, too. The first three or four items are usually the ones the hiring manager actually screens on; the rest are often a wish list. If the first thing every posting mentions is supplier negotiation and you have strong evidence of it, that evidence belongs near the top of your most recent role, not buried in the fourth bullet.

If you are genuinely targeting two different directions, for example project management and operations, write two CVs. A single document that tries to point both ways ends up pointing at neither, and the reader cannot tell what you want.

Before drafting anything, build a working file of facts. This is not the CV; it is the quarry you will cut the CV from. Most people discover they have far more evidence than they remembered once they go looking for it deliberately.

For almost everyone, the right structure is reverse chronological: most recent role first, working backwards. Recruiters expect it, applicant tracking systems parse it reliably, and it lets the reader see your trajectory at a glance. So-called functional or skills-based CVs, which group abilities and hide the timeline, tend to make readers suspicious that something is being concealed.

A standard professional CV runs in this order: contact details, a short profile, work experience, key skills, education and qualifications, then anything optional such as languages, publications or professional memberships. Graduates with little work history can move education above experience. Career changers can add a short "relevant experience" or projects section, but the full chronological history should still be there.

Length follows from the market and your stage. Two pages is the norm in the UK, Ireland and much of Europe; some markets accept more. Decide this now so you draft to a realistic size instead of cutting half the document later.

Personal details follow the market as well. In the UK, US, Canada, Ireland and Australia, a CV carries your name, phone, email, city and a LinkedIn link, and nothing else: no photo, no date of birth, no marital status. In the Gulf states a photo and nationality are commonly expected. Settle this before you choose a layout, because a photo changes how the top of the page is built.

The work experience section is where the job is actually won, so write it before anything else. For each role, give the title, employer, location and dates on one line, then one or two sentences of context: what the organisation does, the scope of your role, who you reported to or managed. That context lets a reader from outside your company understand the scale of what follows.

Then write bullets that describe outcomes, not duties. "Responsible for supplier management" says what the job was. "Renegotiated terms with the three largest suppliers, reducing annual packaging costs and shortening lead times on core lines" says what you did with it. Start each bullet with a strong verb, keep most to one or two lines, and put the result where the reader will see it.

Give recent and relevant roles the most space: often four to six bullets. Roles from ten or more years ago can drop to two bullets or a single line. The reader cares far more about what you are doing now than what you did at the start of your career.

If you held several roles at one employer, show that progression rather than hiding it. List the employer once, then each title with its own dates and bullets underneath. A promotion is evidence in its own right: it tells the reader that people who watched you work closely chose to give you more responsibility. Collapsing three titles into one line throws that evidence away.

The skills section should be short, specific and grouped: technical tools, methods, languages, industry knowledge. Every skill listed there should also be visible somewhere in your experience, because a skill with no evidence behind it carries little weight with a human reader.

Education goes in reverse order too: degree, institution, year, and the classification or grade if it helps you. Once you have several years of experience, drop school results entirely. Professional qualifications often matter more than the degree in fields like accounting, project management or engineering, so give them a clear heading of their own if they are central to the role. A qualification you are currently studying for can be listed with an expected completion date, which shows momentum without overclaiming.

Optional sections earn their place only when they help this application. Languages matter for international and client-facing roles. Volunteering matters when it shows leadership or fills a gap. Hobbies rarely matter at all, and "reading, travel and socialising" matters least.

The profile, sometimes called a personal statement or summary, is the three to five lines at the top of the page. It is the hardest part to write from nothing and the easiest to write last, because by now you know exactly what the rest of the CV proves.

A strong profile states what you are, the level you operate at, and the two or three things that make you a fit for the target role, with at least one concrete fact. For example: "Chartered management accountant with eight years in manufacturing finance, leading month-end close for a multi-site group and building the forecasting model now used for board reporting." It names a profession, a sector, a scope and a result.

Leave out adjectives the reader cannot check: hardworking, passionate, results-driven, team player. They describe everyone, so they describe no one.

Formatting should serve reading, not decoration. Use a single column, a clean sans-serif or serif font at a readable size, consistent date formats, and clear section headings. Put your contact details in the body of the document, not in a header, so software reads them reliably. Avoid photos unless the target market expects one.

Then check it properly. Read it aloud once, slowly; you will hear errors you cannot see. Check every date and title against your working file. Save it as a Word document and a PDF, name the file with your name and the word CV, and paste the text into a plain text editor to confirm it reads in the right order. Finally, give it to someone who does not know your job and ask what they think you do. If their answer does not match your target, the CV is not finished.