The 13th of July 2026 marks a very special occasion; it’s The CV Guru’s 10th birthday!
Over the past decade, our award-winning team of professional CV writers has helped job seekers across the UK to take their next professional steps – from new graduates, to professionals changing careers, and those transitioning into executive-level roles.
We have written thousands of CVs in the last 10 years, and picked up on some key tips and tricks along the way to make talking about your experience easier and more effective.
In this blog, we are sharing our top 10 CV writing tips, to help you make the best first impression on employers.
Top 10 CV Writing Tips
1. Make your USPs clear
Hiring managers are very busy. Chances are, your application is one of dozens – if not hundreds – they need to review for any given role.
Therefore, it is important to ensure that your unique selling points (USPs) as a candidate are immediately clear.
Ask yourself: If someone skimmed my CV for 10 seconds, what would they learn about me?
Would they understand your experience, your strengths, and what you are looking for in the next chapter of your career? Or would they have to work to piece it all together?
Your Professional Profile and Key Skills sections do a lot of the heavy lifting here, so spend time getting them right. Ensure they match the language in the job description to immediately grab attention.
2. Analyse every job advert strategically
The majority of people only spend a few minutes scanning a job advert to learn key information like the salary, location, and key responsibilities.
When you spend a bit more time analysing a job description, you learn to read between the lines. This will teach you invaluable information, such as:
- Organisational priorities
- Leadership gaps
- Core values
- Cultural fit
As a result, you will be able to position yourself as the best fit for the role.
3. Avoid recapping your career history
It’s tempting to try and cover as much of your previous experience as possible on your CV – especially when you have an extensive career history.
However, when you cover too much detail, the impactful parts of your experience and results will be diluted and lose impact.
If you are seeking a leadership position, focus on the most strategic and impactful examples you have of your capabilities, instead of including every piece of leadership experience you have.
Reviewing the job description will help you determine what you should include, and what you should leave out.
4. Stay focused on real results
To make an impact with your CV, you need to be very specific about your experience.
Every example you include in your CV needs to be data-driven, results-focused, and relevant to the job description. You should also ensure, when talking about your experience, that each example showcases your value and true strategic impact in the role.
Use figures, percentages, and statistics as much as possible. These are measurable results that give an employer a feel for what you could do at their company.
You can find out more about showcasing results on your CV in this blog post.
5. Keep track of your professional wins
If you have had one job for a long time, you might be out of practice writing a CV. Therefore, summarising and evidencing your key achievements effectively can feel quite daunting.
Don’t wait until a role comes up to start tracking your successes! If you do this as you hit different milestones, you will have a ready-made list to select the perfect example for your CV or in a job interview.
Having a visual representation of your accomplishments can also be a great way to remind you of your value and boost your confidence.
6. Maintain a consistent online presence
This is not strictly CV related, but making sure your LinkedIn profile matches the information in your CV is essential to making a good first impression.
After reviewing your CV, many recruiters will check your online presence before inviting you to interview. Therefore, as you write your CV, make sure you:
- Set your profile to public and check your contact information is up-to-date.
- Write a headline that includes keywords and phrases for the type of job you’re looking for.
- Update the About Section and Experience sections of your profile, and use first-person pronouns to talk about your professional history.
- Select the ‘Open To Work’ feature on your profile, to tell other users that you’re interested in new professional opportunities. You can tailor this to be specific about the kind of positions you are seeking. You can set this status to only be seen by recruiters if you are concerned about causing conflict with your existing employer.
- Request up-to-date recommendations from people you have worked with in the past.
7. Avoid relying on AI
Artificial Intelligence is a hot topic across a lot of industries at the moment – but there are a lot of reasons you shouldn’t rely on generic AI too heavily when preparing your CV.
Generic AI creates CVs and Cover Letters in minutes, but it does so using conflicting advice across the internet, so you can never be sure if the structure is following best practices. You also need to consider where your data is going, and what the company will use it for.
It takes time to manually create a CV, but it is more than worth it – especially in such a competitive job market.
8. Use a clear and consistent structure
It can be tempting to include an image of yourself on your CV, or select a template with a nice design as a way of standing out from other applicants.
Unfortunately, this can have the opposite effect. Graphics are not scannable by Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), and so your CV may not pass the first screening, or be seen by a human at all.
Focus on keeping a clear and consistent structure throughout your CV:
- Use headings and sections so an employer can easily navigate the document
- Use bullet points to highlight key information
- Keep font sizes, spacing, and alignment consistent in every section.
9. Experience is always transferable
When you’ve been in one role or industry for a long time, you may not think it is possible to move into a new area.
We have helped hundreds of professionals to transition into new careers and have discovered that all experience is transferable. By identifying your core skills – the ones you take with you from job to job – you can position yourself effectively as a great fit for a new professional challenge.
You can find out more about working out your transferable skills here.
10. Clarify your future goals
It might seem counter-intuitive, but your CV needs to cover more than your past achievements.
You also need to make your future ambitions clear. When an employer understands your goals, they can more effectively evaluate whether you are suitable for the role and if you can develop alongside the company.
Proactively researching the company to learn about their recent achievements and future plans. This can help you ensure your goals align with theirs – which gives both parties confidence that you are the right person to fill a position.
We hope you have found these tips helpful, and that you are looking at your CV with a new perspective.
The CV Guru wouldn’t have reached 10 years in business without our clients, interview coaches, and partner organisations.
Whether you have ordered a CV bundle from us, recommended us to a friend, or engaged with us on social media, we are very grateful for your support.
We are looking forward to helping you achieve your career goals for many more years to come!