How to Write a Professional CV to get Your Next Job (Download Free CV Templates)

In today’s competitive job market, where 90% of Fortune 500 companies use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to manage high volumes of job applications, knowing how to write a professional CV is your first and primary steps to Landing your dream job.

Your CV is more than a list of jobs and qualifications. It’s your professional story, strategically packaged to capture attention in the crucial seconds recruiters spend reviewing applications. According to research, recruiters spend about six seconds scanning your resume before making a decision.

What is a CV?

A CV, short for Curriculum Vitae (Latin for “course of life”), is a comprehensive document that outlines your professional and academic history, skills, accomplishments and other relevant experiences, and when crafted correctly, it becomes your ticket to securing that all-important interview.

While the terms CV and resume are sometimes used interchangeably, they’re distinctly different documents with unique purposes, as The Muse career experts explain.

Difference between CV and Resume

According to Monster’s comprehensive career guide, a CV is a detailed, career-long document used mainly in academic and research settings, while a resume is a concise, targeted document used for most nonacademic job applications.

Key Differences:

Length: CVs are comprehensive documents that often span multiple pages, detailing your entire academic and professional journey. Resumes, conversely, are concise summaries typically limited to one or two pages, focusing only on the most relevant information for a specific role.

Purpose: CVs are primarily used in academic, research, and scientific fields, while resumes dominate business, marketing, technology, and other non-academic sectors. As noted by Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab, in the United States, you may need a CV to apply for a teaching or research position, whereas most corporate positions require a resume.

Content: CVs include extensive sections for publications, presentations, detailed research projects, and comprehensive academic achievements. Resumes highlight relevant skills and accomplishments directly applicable to the target position, omitting less relevant experiences.

Flexibility: While CVs follow a relatively static format that comprehensively documents your career, resumes are dynamic documents tailored specifically for each application.

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Choosing the Right CV Format for Your Goals

The format you choose significantly impacts how effectively your CV communicates your qualifications. Your industry, career stage, and target role should guide your format selection. CareerBuilder’s resume experts recommend carefully considering your format choice based on your unique situation.

Popular CV Formats and When to Use Them

Academic CV: This extended format suits research, teaching, and higher education roles perfectly. It includes comprehensive sections for publications, presentations, grants, and detailed research projects. If you’re pursuing academic positions, this format showcases your scholarly contributions effectively.

Modern CV: Features clean, contemporary layouts suitable for most industries today. This format balances professionalism with visual appeal, making it ideal for creative fields, tech companies, and progressive organizations.

Traditional CV: Offers a classic, conservative design perfect for sectors like law, finance, or government where a formal approach is valued and expected.

ATS-Friendly CV: According to recent statistics, 99.7% of recruiters use keyword filters in their ATS to sort and prioritize applicants, making this format crucial for modern job applications. It uses simple layouts, clear section headings, and strategically placed keywords to ensure your CV passes automated screening systems.

Student/Entry-Level CV: The Muse’s entry-level resume guide emphasizes that this format focuses heavily on education, relevant skills, coursework, internships, and volunteer work, perfect for those just starting their career journey.

Minimalist CV: Streamlined for maximum readability and clarity, this format eliminates unnecessary clutter and presents information efficiently.

How to Write a Professional CV: Section by Section

Creating a compelling CV requires careful attention to each section. As Harvard’s Mignone Center for Career Success states, your resume should highlight your strongest assets and skills, and differentiate you from other candidates seeking similar positions. Let me guide you through each essential component.

1. Contact Information Header

Start strong with a clean, professional header containing:

• Full Name: Use your professional name consistently across all application materials
• Phone Number: Ensure your voicemail message is professional
• Professional Email Address: The Muse recommends using an email address that is suitable for work, such as one that has your first and last name
• Location: You don’t need to list your whole address. This is outdated and potentially unsafe. List your city and state
• LinkedIn Profile: Include a link if your profile is current and professionally maintained
• Portfolio/Website: Add relevant portfolio links, especially for creative, technical, or design roles

What to Avoid: According to Indeed’s career advice experts, date of birth, personal details like marital status, social security number, and passport number should not be included as they can lead to discrimination and privacy concerns.

2. Professional Summary or Objective

This critical section serves as your elevator pitch, a concise paragraph that immediately captures the reader’s attention. Monster career coach Kim Isaacs notes that resume summaries and objectives highlight your top qualities, but the right one depends on your experience and goals.

Use a Professional Summary if:

• You have five or more years of relevant experience
• You want to showcase career growth and key accomplishments
• You’re applying for positions in your established field

Use a Career Objective if:

• You’re entering the job market for the first time
• You’re making a career change
• You’re a recent graduate with limited professional experience

Example Professional Summary: “Results-driven Marketing Manager with 7+ years of experience developing data-driven campaigns that increase brand awareness and drive revenue growth. Proven track record of managing cross-functional teams and delivering projects 20% under budget while exceeding performance targets by 35%.”

3. Education Section

List your education in reverse-chronological order, with your most recent school first. According to Resume Genius formatting experts, you should provide your GPA if it was 3.5 or higher, and note academic honors, awards, grants, scholarships or fellowships.

Include:

• Degree title (Bachelor’s, Master’s, PhD)
• Institution name
• Graduation date (or expected completion date)
• Relevant coursework (if applicable to the position)
• Academic honors and achievements
• GPA (only if 3.5 or higher)

4. Work Experience: Your Professional Journey

This section forms the heart of your CV. Columbia Career Education emphasizes that a resume is a concise, informative summary of your abilities, education, and experience. It should highlight your strongest assets and skills, and differentiate you from other candidates seeking similar positions.

For each position, include:

• Job title
• Company name and location
• Employment dates
• 3-5 bullet points describing achievements and responsibilities

Writing Powerful Bullet Points:

According to career experts at leading universities, never write a CV in the third person. Only use the first person, but leave out the pronoun “I”. This approach keeps your content concise and professional. Muse career coach Martin McGovern recommends answering three key questions in each bullet point: “What did you do? Why did you do it? What was the result?”

Start each bullet point with strong action verbs and quantify achievements whenever possible:

• Instead of: “Responsible for managing social media accounts”
• Write: “Managed 5 social media platforms, increasing engagement by 150% and follower count by 25,000 within 6 months”

Quantify Your Impact: Numbers speak volumes. Monster research reveals that using numbers, percentages, and metrics is the best way to show the impact of your work. Include metrics, percentages, dollar amounts, timeframes, and team sizes to demonstrate the tangible impact of your contributions.

5. Skills Section

When listing your skills in your CV, CareerBuilder experts advise making sure to include the skills that are actually relevant for the role you’re applying for. Organize your skills into clear categories:

Technical Skills: Software proficiency, programming languages, tools, and platforms Soft Skills: Leadership, communication, problem-solving, teamwork Language Proficiencies: List languages and proficiency levels Industry-Specific Skills: Certifications, specialized knowledge, technical competencies

6. Additional Sections That Strengthen Your CV

Depending on your field and experience level, consider including:

Publications and Research: Essential for academic and research positions Awards and Honors: Demonstrate excellence and recognition in your field Professional Memberships: Show active engagement in your industry Volunteer Work: Highlights community involvement and transferable skills Certifications and Licenses: If you have them, create a certifications section on your CV and list them in reverse-chronological order from the date you received them

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Mastering ATS Optimization: Getting Past the Bots

Understanding how to optimize your CV for Applicant Tracking Systems is no longer optional. According to Jobscan research, about 99% of Fortune 500 companies use some form of applicant tracking system (ATS) to streamline their recruitment, making ATS compatibility essential for modern job seekers.

What Exactly is an ATS?

An applicant tracking system (ATS) automates recruitment by scanning resumes for businesses. Instead of a hiring manager or employer sifting through stacks of resumes, ATS bots handle the job search grunt work. These systems scan your CV for specific keywords, parse your information, and rank your application based on how well it matches the job requirements.

Essential ATS-Friendly Formatting Rules

1. Use Standard Section Headings

ATS-friendly resume templates feature minimalist designs with clear section headings like “Work Experience” and “Skills”. The Muse’s formatting guide advises avoiding creative headers like “My Journey” or “Where I’ve Been”. Stick with conventional titles that ATS systems recognize instantly.

2. Choose the Right File Format

While PDF files are the best at preserving the design and format of your resume template, it’s not compatible with all ATS software. When in doubt, submit your CV as a .docx file unless the job posting specifically requests a PDF.

3. Keep Formatting Simple

According to experts at major universities, you should avoid templates which are a combination of fields and tables and can confuse ATS systems. Harvard Career Services recommends sticking to basic fonts such as Arial, Georgia, or Tahoma, only use black color, and font size 11-12 points.

Avoid These ATS Killers:

• Headers and footers (ATS often can’t read them)
• Tables and text boxes
• Multiple columns
• Graphics, images, or charts
• Fancy fonts or elaborate bullet points
• Underlining text

4. Incorporate Strategic Keywords

Recent Forbes research shows that over 75% of recruiters filter candidates by skills, so incorporating relevant skills from the job description is crucial. Here’s how to do it effectively:

Keyword Strategy:

• Carefully review the job description and identify repeated terms
• Include both full terms and acronyms (e.g., “Search Engine Optimization (SEO)”)
• Naturally incorporate keywords throughout your CV, not just in a keyword dump
• Use keywords and exact phrases from the job description throughout your resume. Keywords are graded both by how often they appear and the extent to which they get used in context

5. Use Standard Date Formats

Be consistent with dates and use a standard format for dates like “January 2020 – March 2023” or “01/2020 – 03/2023.” Consistency helps ATS systems parse your information accurately.

Testing Your CV’s ATS Compatibility

Before submitting your CV, test its ATS-friendliness. Columbia Career Education suggests copying the entire content from your ATS-friendly resume, pasting it into a plain-text document, and reviewing the results. If the plain-text version is missing details from your original resume, then your resume will require editing before it’s ATS compliant.

You can also use professional tools like Jobscan, Resume Worded, or Skillsyncer to analyze how well your CV matches specific job descriptions.

Tailoring Your CV

Generic CVs are a waste of your time and the recruiter’s. A 2024 Forbes study found that 63% of recruiters say that the biggest mistake job seekers make on their resumes is not tailoring their resume to the specific job they are applying for. Read the job description for keywords, then write a resume summary or objective that highlights your most relevant qualifications.

How to Tailor Effectively

Step 1: Analyze the Job Description Identify must-have qualifications, preferred skills, key responsibilities, and industry-specific terminology.

Step 2: Customize Your Professional Summary Rewrite your opening paragraph to directly address the role’s requirements, incorporating 2-3 key qualifications mentioned in the posting.

Step 3: Reorganize Your Experience Monster career experts recommend placing your most relevant experiences and achievements first within each role. If a job posting emphasizes project management, lead with your project management accomplishments.

Step 4: Adjust Your Skills Section Prioritize skills mentioned in the job description, ensuring they appear prominently on your CV.

Step 5: Use Their Language If the company uses specific terminology or phrases, mirror that language in your CV while remaining authentic.

How to Professionally Address Employment Gaps

Career gaps are increasingly common and, when handled correctly, don’t have to hurt your chances. Here’s how to address them strategically:

1. Restructure Your Format Listing years instead of months for employment dates can minimize the visibility of shorter gaps.

2. Include Productive Activities Did you pursue professional development, volunteer work, freelance projects, or family responsibilities during your gap? The Muse suggests including these experiences to demonstrate continued growth and engagement.

3. Focus on Skills Gained Highlight transferable skills, personal growth, new perspectives, and any training or certifications acquired during time away from traditional employment.

4. Be Prepared to Discuss Frame your gap positively in interviews, focusing on what you learned and how you stayed current in your field. Confidence is key.

CV Formatting

Beyond ATS requirements, your CV should be visually appealing and easy to read for human reviewers.

Design and Layout Principles

Font Selection: Resume Genius formatting experts note that Times New Roman is the most widely used and classic font option. You can also choose similar professional fonts like Arial, Calibri, or Georgia. Fonts like Helvetica, Helvetica Neue, Lato, Garamond, Georgia will work great whilst looking professional.

Font Size: Keeping your font size between 10-12pt allows you to save space and makes the CV easy to read.

White Space: Don’t overcrowd your CV. Strategic white space improves readability and helps important information stand out. CareerBuilder research shows that 83% of recruiters say they’re more likely to hire a candidate who has a well-formatted resume.

Consistency: Maintain consistent formatting throughout. Same date formats, same bullet style, same font sizes for similar elements.

File Naming: Simply write your name and the word resume at the end. Capitalize the letters and use an underscore symbol to separate each word, like this: “Jane_Doe_Resume.pdf”

Common CV Mistakes to Avoid

1. Overuse of Buzzwords: According to Indeed’s career advisors, words such as team player, fast learner, results-driven, and detail-oriented really have no meaning on their own. They’re overused, unimaginative cliches. Instead, demonstrate these qualities through specific examples and achievements.

2. Including Salary Information: Your CV is not the right place to talk about your salary requirements. Including your desired salary makes it seem like you’re mainly in it for the money.

3. Spelling and Grammar Errors: CareerBuilder’s research reveals that 60% of hiring managers say they’ve found a typo on a resume. Your CV needs to be flawless. Print it out, see how it looks, and get somebody else to have a look at it too. Check for spelling and grammatical errors.

4. Using Personal Pronouns: Write in first person but omit “I”. Say “Managed team of 5” instead of “I managed a team of 5.”

5. Photos (for US Applications): Generally not recommended for US resumes due to potential bias. Exceptions include modeling and acting roles.

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Understanding the Europass CV

If you’re considering opportunities in Europe, you should understand the Europass CV format. The Europass CV is a very specific, standardized format designed for transparency and comparability across Europe, quite different from flexible standard CVs.

When to Use Europass:

• Applying for positions in EU countries
• Public sector jobs in Europe
• Academic programs across European institutions
• When specifically requested by employers

Key Characteristics:

• Standardized, structured format
• Less customization flexibility
• Uniform appearance across all applications
• Readily available templates at Europass.eu
• Optional photo inclusion

For most non-European applications and private sector roles, traditional CV formats offer more flexibility and impact.

Leveraging Technology: AI Tools for CV Creation

Modern technology offers powerful assistance in crafting compelling CVs. A recent LinkedIn study shows that 83% of U.S. companies already use some form of AI technology in human resources, including recruitment. AI-powered tools can analyze job descriptions, identify crucial keywords, suggest relevant experiences to highlight, and optimize your CV for ATS compatibility.

Popular Tools Include:

• ChatGPT for content generation and refinement
• Canva for visually appealing designs (ensure ATS compatibility)
• Jobscan for ATS optimization
• Grammarly for polishing your writing
• LinkedIn Resume Builder for quick CV generation

Important Note: While AI tools are valuable assistants, your resume and cover letter should authentically represent who you are and what you have to offer. Generative AI can be a useful tool in the editing process, helping you brainstorm revisions or incorporate keywords.

Quality Control Checklist

Before submitting your CV, complete this final review:

✓ Accuracy Check: Verify all dates, company names, job titles, and contact information ✓ Spelling and Grammar: Use spell-check, then manually proofread ✓ Consistency: Check date formats, bullet points, font sizes, and spacing ✓ Keywords: Ensure relevant keywords from the job description appear naturally throughout ✓ ATS Compatibility: Test your CV using plain-text conversion or ATS-checking tools ✓ Quantification: Confirm you’ve included numbers and metrics where possible ✓ Tailoring: Verify your CV directly addresses the target role’s requirements ✓ Professional Review: Have a trusted colleague or mentor review your CV ✓ File Format: Save and submit in the requested format (.docx or PDF)

Download Free Professional CV Templates

Ready to get started? Access collections of ATS-optimized, professionally designed CV templates suitable for various industries and career levels from trusted sources:

• The Muse Free Resume Template
• Resume Genius Template Gallery
• Harvard Career Services Templates
• Indeed Resume Builder
• Europass CV Templates

Template Categories:

• Modern Professional CV Templates
• Academic CV Templates
• Entry-Level/Student CV Templates
• Executive CV Templates
• Creative Industry CV Templates
• Europass CV Templates

Conclusion

Learning how to write a professional CV is an investment in your career success. As Harvard’s career experts emphasize, your resume plays an essential role in the hiring process by serving as your first impression on potential employers and helping them quickly assess whether you’re a strong fit for the job.

Remember these core principles:

• Tailor every application to the specific role
• Optimize for both ATS systems and human readers
• Quantify achievements with concrete metrics
• Maintain impeccable formatting and accuracy
• Continuously update and refine your CV

Your dream job is within reach once you have a polished, professional CV that effectively tells your story and demonstrates your value. Start implementing these strategies today, and watch your interview invitations increase.