How to write a CV: a step-by-step guide

Most people get stuck because they try to write and remember at the same time. Separate the two. Before you open any template, spend twenty minutes making a rough list:

• Every job, internship and significant project, with employer, city and start and end month.
• What you were responsible for in each one, in plain words.
• Anything you improved, fixed, saved, grew, launched or taught. Even rough numbers help: "about 40 customers a day", "team of 6", "cut errors by roughly half".
• Degrees, diplomas and certificates, with years.
• Software, tools, machines, methods and languages you can use confidently.

Look at old appraisals, job descriptions, emails where someone thanked you, and project reports. They are full of facts you have forgotten.

Use a reverse-chronological format (latest job first) unless you are changing careers. Our CV format guide explains the options. Pick a clean, single-column template with standard headings. Avoid heavy graphics, skill bars and icons that replace words; they look good to people but confuse software and say little about your real level.

Put your full name in large text at the top, then on one or two lines: phone number with country code, a professional email address, city and country, and a LinkedIn profile link. In Pakistan and the Gulf you can add nationality and visa status if they are relevant. Remove anything that could be used against you and adds nothing, such as your full street address, religion or CNIC number.

This is the heart of the CV, so write it before the summary. For each job, add the title, employer, city and dates, then three to six bullet points. The latest job gets the most bullets; jobs from ten or more years ago can have one or two.

Turn duties into achievements

A duty describes the job. An achievement describes how well you did it. Compare:

• Duty: "Responsible for handling customer complaints."
• Achievement: "Resolved 35+ customer complaints a day and raised satisfaction scores from 78% to 91% in six months."

A simple formula works for almost any role: action verb + what you did + result or scale. "Trained 12 new cashiers on the POS system, cutting checkout errors by 30%." "Prepared monthly VAT returns for 40 clients with zero penalties in two years."

Start with strong verbs

Use verbs such as led, built, reduced, increased, launched, managed, trained, negotiated, designed, automated, resolved and delivered. Avoid "responsible for", "worked on" and "helped with", which hide what you actually did.

Add numbers wherever honest

Numbers make claims believable: money, percentages, time saved, people served, team size, number of projects. If you do not know an exact figure, use a careful estimate you could explain in an interview. Never invent results.

If you are short of ideas, the bullet points in our project manager and nurse CV examples show how different jobs express results.

Now that your experience is on the page, the summary is easy: pick the two or three things that matter most to the jobs you want. A good summary is two to four lines and covers your title or field, years of experience, core strengths and one standout result.

Example: "Customer service team lead with 6 years in telecom call centres. Coaches agents on first-call resolution and has kept team CSAT above 90% for eight straight quarters. Fluent in English, Urdu and Punjabi."

Freshers can write a short objective instead. See CV summary examples and CV objectives for freshers.

List your highest qualification first. Include the degree, institution, city and year; add your grade only if it is strong. Once you have a degree, intermediate and matric results can be one line or removed.

For skills, list eight to fifteen that appear in the job ads you are targeting and that you can prove. Separate hard skills (Excel, AutoCAD, SAP, Python, IV cannulation, forklift operation) from languages. See our skills guide for lists by field.

Add certifications, projects, volunteering or awards only when they support your application. A data analyst's Google certificate belongs; a school sports trophy from fifteen years ago does not.

Read the whole CV out loud. Cut any line that does not help you get this job. Check that:

• Every bullet starts with a verb and has no full stop clutter or "I" statements.
• Dates are consistent and there are no unexplained gaps longer than six months.
• Company names, job titles and your own email are spelled correctly.
• The CV fits on one or two full pages without cramped spacing.

Then ask someone you trust to read it for two minutes and tell you what they remember. If they cannot name your current role and one achievement, the most important parts need to be clearer.

One generic CV sent to fifty jobs performs worse than five tailored CVs. For each application, re-read the job ad and:

1. Mirror the job title in your summary where it is honest.
2. Make sure the top five skills or requirements in the ad appear in your CV using the same words.
3. Move the most relevant bullets to the top of each job.
4. Remove details that are irrelevant to this employer.

CVLumo's job match feature compares your CV to a pasted job ad and shows which keywords are missing, and the free ATS check points out missing dates, weak verbs and other problems before you send it.