CV writing guide: structure, wording and length that get interviews

A CV is not a biography, it is an argument for one specific role. Before writing anything, read the job advert twice and note the five requirements it repeats. Those five points decide which jobs you expand, which you compress to one line, and which skills appear at the top.

If you apply for two different kinds of role — for example project coordinator and operations analyst — keep two versions of your CV instead of one that tries to do both. The builder lets you duplicate a CV and adjust the copy so you never rewrite from scratch.

Recruiters skim in a predictable path: name and title, summary, most recent job, then education. Follow it:

• Contact details: name, professional title, city, phone, email, LinkedIn.
• Professional summary: three to four lines, no clichés.
• Work experience: reverse chronological, newest first.
• Education and certificates.
• Skills, tools and languages.

Leave out date of birth, marital status, a photograph in countries where it is discouraged, and full home address. In Sweden a photo is common but optional; in the UK and the Netherlands it is usually omitted. Choose a photo template only when the market expects it.

The summary is easiest to write once the rest exists. Aim for a sentence about who you are professionally, a sentence about your strongest proof, and a sentence about what you are looking for. Example: “Logistics coordinator with six years in cold-chain distribution. Reduced delivery deviations from 4.1% to 1.6% across 12 depots. Looking for a planning role in a Nordic retail group.”

Avoid “hard-working team player with excellent communication skills”. It appears on millions of CVs and carries no information.

The single biggest improvement most CVs need is converting responsibilities into outcomes. Compare:

• Weak: “Responsible for customer support.”
• Strong: “Handled 60–80 support tickets a day; introduced a reply-template library that cut average first response from 9 hours to 2.”

Each bullet should answer: what did you do, at what scale, and what changed because of it. Three to five bullets for a recent role, one or two for older ones. Use numbers you can defend in an interview — never estimates you invented for the page.

One page up to about eight years of experience, two pages beyond that, three only in academia. Keep one readable typeface, generous margins, and consistent date formats. Export as PDF so the layout survives every device, and name the file firstname-lastname-cv.pdf.

Write the CV in the language of the advert. For Swedish employers advertising in English, English is safe. Arabic CVs read right-to-left and need a template built for it, not a mirrored Latin layout — the builder handles direction, punctuation and alignment automatically when you switch language.

For Sweden, add a short line about work permit status if you need sponsorship, and list personal references only when asked.

• Consistent tense: present for the current job, past for previous ones.
• No unexplained gaps longer than six months.
• Every abbreviation spelled out once.
• Email and phone number tested.
• Same dates as on your LinkedIn profile.