An effective CV will be clearly structured and make good use of the page, so that it is easy to read and important information is emphasised. Content will be succinct, using vocabulary that suggests action and achievement and, critically, it will be targeted to the particular job in hand.

Deciding on a structure that works consistently throughout is important. We’d suggest positioning dates on the right of the page. Make sure the content of each section is listed in reverse chronological order and avoid personal pronouns. Use bullet points to help guide the reader’s eye and ensure they pick out key information easily.

The recruiter or hiring manager will be reading your CV with their particular job in mind, and they’ll be looking for evidence that you have the educational background, skills, experience and general profile they are looking for. This means they’re not necessarily interested in learning in detail about everything you’ve done – they want to know whether you can do their job, will fit into their organisation and whether they should take your application to the next stage.

The recommended length of your CV will vary depending on sector and location as well as the particular requirements of a given employer, so make sure you check that out. Finance CVs are typically one-page, other sectors will often be happy with two, academic CVs can be longer still – but most employers tell us that you should be as succinct as possible, and if you can get the relevant experience on one page, do so. The less they’re asked to read, the better!

As far as possible, apply the same structure to all sections of the CV – that makes it much easier for the recruiter to read: in general, recruiters will want to know where you worked/studied, the dates you were there (including your future graduation date), the role and degree, and the most relevant things you did. Remember that the first role you list in a particular section and the bullet points you place first will typically be given most attention.

You can use your structuring to help you match your experience to a particular role. You can separate your work experience by type or sector; you can include internships within a general section on work experience or separate them out; you can include a section on extra-curricular activities and a separate one for volunteering or combine the two, you can choose to list all the awards you’ve received, you can use section heads like ‘Leadership experience’ or ‘Research experience’ if you know that this is something a particular employer is looking for.

Changing the sections and order of bullet points will have a very powerful effect in retargeting your experience from one role to another. Just keep in mind when you’re putting it together that it’s about what the recruiter needs to know, not what you want to say about yourself.

As obvious as it sounds, make sure that your grammar and spelling are correct, that your formatting is neat, and sections aligned – many employers, particularly those for whom attention to detail is important, will simply discard CVs that contain any errors or look sloppy. Ask a friend and native speaker to read it through – it can be easy to miss errors when you’ve been focused on something for a while.

At the top of the page. Keep these to a minimum. Your name, your email, your mobile number (one of each!). Possibly a link to your LinkedIn profile. No need to include ‘Curriculum Vitae or CV’.

UK employers don’t typically want a photo, though this remains the norm elsewhere; make sure you check out what’s expected wherever you are applying.

Optional; can be useful if you have prior professional experience or particular skills that you feel are very relevant to the role and that you want to highlight. Needs to be short, succinct - three or four bullet points - and very specifically targeted. Avoid personal pronouns, anything generic or qualitative judgements about yourself such as ‘hardworking, motivated student’.

List formal education in reverse chronological order: institution, degree, start and end dates. Use bullet points to list what would interest an employer: the overall focus of your degree, modules you studied, any particular papers you wrote, your dissertation – topic, research methodology, the marks you received. Very often we see that people don’t realise how relevant and useful some information about their education can be, so think carefully about what you can draw on. That could be content, particular knowledge, results. Remember that you can decide what to include and are free to give more space to whatever is more relevant to a given role. 

…or Professional experience, or Legal experience, or Research experience. Use headings to your advantage. If you can group together a set of experiences to really highlight things that are relevant to the role, do so. If, by grouping experiences under specific headings, you can create a sense of commitment to an area or position a very relevant piece of experience at the top of the section, do so.

If you are applying to train as a solicitor, you could include within Legal experience a mix of related paid work, spring weeks, unpaid internships, volunteering where you’ve used relevant skills. Remember that reviewers will tend to pay particular attention to what’s listed first.

Within each role, use bullet points to describe what you did. Start each bullet point with a verb – and ensure that you are describing things that are related to the job description. Make sure that it’s clear to the reader precisely what you did and, where relevant, quantify what was achieved. The reader needs to be able to quickly understand your specific contribution. At this stage, they need to be able to appreciate what you can do without asking any follow up questions, without spending time thinking ‘I wonder what this means – did they organise the event entirely on their own, or were other people involved’. Remember that you have the recruiter’s attention for a limited time, so you don’t want them to be using that time trying to decipher what you mean.

By the end of your CV, the recruiter should have clear specific examples of how you have used the kinds of skills that relate to what they have listed in the person specification and job description. It’s absolutely fine to list more bullet points under one role than another if that experience is more relevant.

For graduate roles and where you do not yet have a lot of professional experience, employers are often very interested in the kinds of things that you have done alongside your studies, particularly if they have given the opportunity to develop those broader ‘soft’ skills that are important to them: team working, communication skills, organisation skills, showing initiative.

Some will quite simply want to see that as well as being successful academically, you have been involved in, and committed time to, other things. Including details about your participation in clubs and societies – again being very specific about your particular role - can enhance your overall experience. Describing your sporting, theatre and music activities can be valuable, particularly if you can be precise about your level of involvement. They will also give a sense of what differentiates you from other candidates. 

For some roles, for example in the Third Sector and in organisations which place strong emphasis on Corporate Social Responsibility, a history of volunteering will be quite important, so it can be useful to highlight your volunteering experience in a separate section.

Students are often surprised to learn that many employers are very interested in part-time or summer work, even when it doesn’t seem particularly relevant to the job in hand. Employers appreciate this exposure to the general world of work, the ‘real world’ understanding it brings, will be particularly impressed if you’ve worked alongside studies, and are keen that you can show you understand how skills developed in one environment can be relevant to another. 

You can include here concrete professional skills – specific IT and technical skills, languages, professional qualifications, giving a clear indication of your competence level. 

Some employers are quite interested in knowing something of your hobbies and interests, so listing a few of these can give a bit more information on your personality, particularly if you have not listed extra-curricular activities elsewhere. Remember that anything listed on the CV is ‘fair game’ for further questioning during an interview, so make sure what’s included is current and you’re happy to talk about it in more detail. For more senior roles, this is generally less relevant.