5 quick CV tips to get noticed

Faced with a blank document in front of you and a lifetime of work behind you, writing a CV can seem like a daunting – maybe even impossible – task. Fear not though! Word Dragon is here to share the top CV tips to ensure your most important career document gets the notice it deserves.

CV tip #1. Know your audience

The most important CV tip, when you put pen to paper – or finger to keyboard – is to write for your audience. If you're writing a CV, your audience is likely to be a UK recruiter or employer.

• Tell them what they need to know, without bogging them down in irrelevant detail
• Explain to them how you can meet their needs, not how they can meet yours
• Show why you’re the right person for the job, above any other candidate

And while content may be king, layout is queen. That means:

• Make it easy for the reader to pick out key information at a glance
• Choose a smart, professional and easy-to-read format
• Keep it concise and to-the-point

CV tip #2. Put a clear structure in place

So now you know where you’re going, it’s time to think about how to get there. Staring at a blank piece of paper, or a blank screen, is stressful – so it’s time to get some words on the page. Putting your headers in place is an easy way to start writing a CV. You can change the spacing later, but the main headers you’ll need when writing your CV are:

• Professional Profile
• Key Skills
• Professional Experience
• Qualifications

Depending on your personal circumstances, you may also want to add:

• Professional Development
• Volunteering
• IT skills
• Languages

And don’t forget the most important header of all – your name and contact details at the very top.

With these words on the page, the rest of the CV should feel less daunting. You just have to add some details into each section!

CV tip #3. Start writing your CV

Best practice for CVs says that they should be written without pronouns. It’s a slightly weird way of writing about yourself, and it takes a bit of getting used to, but it does make the CV sound more professional and also helpfully cuts down on the word count to make it a bit snappier.

Another way to control the length of the CV is to write in bullet points, keeping each point to 2 lines or fewer. This is particularly effective in the Professional Experience section, but can be adopted pretty much anywhere on the CV. Bullet points are also an effective way of keeping your reader’s attention, because the alternative of long paragraphs makes walls of text that can be rather off-putting to read on a screen.

CV tip #4. Tidy and polish

 When you’ve nailed the content, don't forget to make sure it’s beautifully presented and error-free. To improve your final document, the top CV tips are:

• Don’t use random templates you’ve found on Canva or your mate’s laptop – however fancy they seem – as they’re unlikely to be ATS-compatible
• Keep it smart and professional – no images, graphics or over-the-top colours
• Use a common, sans serif font in an easy-to-read size

There are some simple ways to make sure your CV is error free, too:

• Sleep on it, then come back for a final read-through with fresh eyes
• Use the Read Aloud function on Word, to hear what you’ve actually written – not what you think you’ve written
• Get a friend or family member to proofread it for you

CV tip #5. Tailor the CV

Now that you have your perfect master document, the final step is writing a CV aimed at whichever particular role you fancy applying to.

Take your master CV and save it with a different file name, so that all your hard work so far isn’t lost. Then, armed with the job advert, start tailoring and tweaking. If you did a good job on your master CV, it should almost be as easy as deleting the irrelevant information in order to leave only those parts that perfectly align with the role you’re after. In reality, you’ll probably also need to make a few changes to the Professional Profile and ensure that you’ve included the main keywords from the advert.

Ta-daaaaaaah! You’re ready to apply and blow them away!

The ultimate CV tip

If all this sounds like too much bother, never fear. I actually enjoy this kind of stuff! Send me what you’ve got so far, we’ll have a chat on the phone and in no time at all you’ll be the proud owner of a knock-out CV. My CVs have been acknowledged for inspiring job hunters with confidence in their abilities, as well as for landing interviews. Why not see what I can do for you?

Updated 2026