Career English · CV

Complete CV Writing Guide

A detailed guide to writing a clear, evidence-based English CV for international applications, including structure, bullet writing, tailoring, ATS awareness and editing.

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1. Start with the job, not with your old CV

Before writing, extract the role's core requirements. Group them into: technical knowledge, responsibilities, evidence of impact, communication, tools and qualifications.

Tailoring principle: the CV should prioritise the parts of your background that best answer the employer's current problem.

2. Header and contact details

What to include

Name, professional email, phone, city/country, and a relevant LinkedIn profile if useful. Avoid unnecessary personal details unless local convention or the application specifically requires them.

3. Professional profile

Build a 3–5 line positioning statement

Use: professional identity + relevant experience/domain + strongest capabilities + contribution/target.

Weak: “Motivated professional looking for a new challenge.”
Stronger: “Learning and development professional with experience in adult education, psychology and international client-facing environments. Skilled in designing tailored training, facilitating professional communication programmes and supporting learners from B1 to C2.”

4. Experience bullets

Action + scope + impact

Start with a meaningful verb, specify what you handled and add outcome or scale where truthful.

WeakStronger
Responsible for clients.Managed a portfolio of 120+ international client accounts, coordinating onboarding and ongoing support across multiple markets.
Helped with training.Designed and delivered tailored English training for adult professionals, adapting content to role-specific communication needs.

5. Quantification

Use numbers when they add meaning

Numbers can show scale, speed, growth, volume, quality or efficiency. Do not invent metrics. If exact figures are confidential, use defensible approximations or scope descriptors.

6. Education and certifications

Prioritise relevance

Include qualification, institution and date. Add classification/distinction or relevant modules only when useful. For experienced candidates, education usually follows experience.

7. Skills

Evidence over adjective lists

Prefer specific skills: Excel, SPSS, CRM systems, languages, project methods, certifications. Avoid unsupported lists such as “team player, dynamic, hardworking”.

8. ATS-aware formatting

Readable for people and systems
  • Use standard headings.
  • Keep essential information in normal text.
  • Avoid excessive graphics and complex multi-column layouts.
  • Use terminology from the job ad where it truthfully fits.
  • Save with a professional filename.

9. Tailoring workflow

Five-pass method
  1. Highlight job requirements.
  2. Match evidence from your background.
  3. Move strongest matching evidence upward.
  4. Rewrite bullets using role-relevant language.
  5. Remove lower-value material that distracts.

10. Final editing checklist

Check dates, tense consistency, spelling variety, duplicated claims, bullet length, unexplained acronyms, vague adjectives, and whether the top half of page one makes your fit obvious.

Source note

Original Corrigan School material. The guidance is informed by established university and public career-services practice, including Harvard career guidance, Europass and the UK National Careers Service, but all wording, examples and exercises here are newly written.