The Dos and Don’ts of CV Writing: A Comprehensive Guide

A vacancy asks for a CV, but the advice you find points in different directions: keep it to one page, include every publication, add a photograph, never add a photograph. Before choosing a template, establish what kind of document the employer needs.

For many business roles, a CV is a concise account of relevant experience, skills, and education. An academic CV has a different purpose and usually needs a more extensive scholarly record. Country conventions and application instructions affect both.

This guide focuses on CVs for employment, including international remote roles, and explains where academic applications differ. The examples are illustrative templates; use them only when they accurately describe your background.

First, check what “CV” means in this application

In the United States, employers generally use “resume” for non-academic roles and “CV” for academic and research applications. In other settings, “CV” can also mean the shorter document used for business jobs. MIT’s CV guidance explains this distinction and recommends adapting the document to the position type.

For UK-style non-academic applications, one or two pages is a common starting point; Oxford’s CV guidance distinguishes this from academic CVs, which may be longer. Use the application’s stated limit first. Neither a universal one-page rule nor an unlimited career history suits every vacancy.

CV writing dos and don’ts at a glance

Build a structure that fits your experience

A reverse-chronological structure is a useful starting point for many employment applications: it makes your recent work and dates easy to follow. You can change the order to emphasize the strongest relevant evidence.

The UK National Careers Service’s CV guide describes the main sections and suggests placing education earlier when work experience is limited. Someone with substantial relevant employment may reasonably lead with that experience instead.

You do not need an introductory profile merely because the template has one. Include it when it helps explain your fit, especially a specialization or career transition.

Generic profile:

Motivated, hardworking professional with excellent communication skills seeking an exciting opportunity.

More informative, if accurate:

Operations coordinator experienced in maintaining project schedules, preparing client updates, and organizing handoffs between service and finance teams.

The second version gives a reader work to evaluate. Add an industry, tool, or other qualification only when it strengthens the connection and is supported by your experience.

Describe contributions with enough context

For each role, establish the employer, your title, and the dates. Then choose descriptions that explain your responsibility and the work you did. Expand unfamiliar abbreviations or internal titles where needed.

A useful bullet can combine an action, the task or problem, and an outcome when known. It does not need a number or a dramatic result every time.

These examples illustrate the difference between a claim and a description; they are not reported achievements.

If you have reliable measurements, use them to clarify the scale or result:

Reduced [defined issue] from [verified baseline] to [verified result] over [period] by [specific action].

Check the source, comparison period, and meaning of the figures. If other changes contributed, describe your part accordingly. If the benefit was expected but never measured, state what you delivered and how it was used rather than presenting the expectation as an observed result.

Keep confidential business information out of the document. You can often explain the type of problem and your contribution without revealing customer data or restricted commercial details.

Adapt the emphasis while keeping the facts stable

Use the vacancy to decide which experience deserves space. Keep a master record, then select and reorder relevant material for the application.

For example, the same project might support different applications:

Only emphasize work you actually did. Keep the employer, official title, dates, and level of responsibility consistent across versions.

Use recognizable terminology when it accurately matches your experience. If a vacancy requests customer relationship management experience and you used Salesforce, the product name and its relevant use can clarify your background. Adding a tool you have never used creates a different claim.

Be equally precise about skills you are learning. Distinguish completed training, independent practice, and professional use. For a career change, Jobicy’s transferable-skills guide can help you explain the connection between previous work and the new role.

Handle limited experience and career breaks honestly

If your employment history is short, consider relevant placements, study projects, volunteering, or independent work. Identify the context so the reader can judge it appropriately.

For a project, include:

• The problem or objective.
• Whether it was coursework, independent work, or work for an organization.
• Your contribution and any collaborators.
• What you produced, tested, or learned.

An independent redesign should be labeled as a concept. A course project should not be presented as employment with the company whose product you studied.

For a substantial break, a brief explanation can help make the timeline understandable if you choose to include one. For example, “Career break — family responsibilities” can provide context without disclosing private circumstances. Include study or freelance work during that period only if it happened, and describe its actual scope.

Jobicy’s guide to resume gaps offers further examples. Keep the terminology consistent whether you call the document a CV or a resume. Do not move dates or invent consulting work to make the chronology appear continuous.

Add remote-work evidence that relates to the job

For remote applications, describe working practices through concrete examples. Relevant evidence may include documenting a handoff, managing a project independently, or communicating a decision across teams.

An illustrative bullet is:

Prepared written handover notes for colleagues in different time zones, identifying open issues, owners, and next actions.

Use that wording only if it reflects your experience. If a role was fully remote or hybrid, label it accurately. If you have never held a remote role, explain relevant collaboration or independent work in its actual setting.

Location can also be important. State your current city and country where useful, and make relocation plans explicit. Give working-hour availability only if relevant and accurate; a remote role may still have country or schedule restrictions.

When reviewing remote vacancies on Jobicy, check those restrictions before tailoring your CV. A location statement or a list of collaboration tools does not establish eligibility for every remote job.

Make formatting work for people and application systems

Use clear headings, consistent dates, readable text, and enough space to distinguish sections. A simple single-column layout is a practical default for many standard applications. Put essential contact and experience information in the main document body.

Greenhouse’s parsing documentation identifies potential problems with image-based files, columns, complex tables, and information in headers, footers, or text boxes. It also explains that a file may remain attached when its information has not populated the candidate fields.

That is a specific system’s documentation. It supports taking care with layout and checking imported information; it does not establish that every ATS rejects a particular design.

Follow the employer’s file-type instructions. For a PDF, check that the text is selectable and that the exported pages are readable. Copying the text into a plain-text document can reveal omissions or a confusing order, but it cannot certify compatibility with every application system.

After uploading, check any populated titles, dates, and contact fields. Complete the requested form even if the information also appears in the attachment.

A tool such as Jobicy’s free resume builder can help organize a standard employment CV. Inspect the result yourself and check whether the template supports the document and application you need.

Check photos, personal details, and referees in context

Country conventions should be researched for the target application. For U.S. non-academic resumes, MIT’s resume advice says photos are generally not preferred and advises against personal details such as age, religion, health, or marital status. The UK National Careers Service also advises omitting age, date of birth, marital status, and nationality from a standard CV.

Use relevant professional contact details and links. Other information requested through an application form can be addressed there accurately; avoid adding unnecessary personal information to a document you may circulate widely.

Treat referee details carefully too. For a standard business application, provide them when requested and ask the referees for permission. An academic application may explicitly require named referees and contact details. Follow that instruction and obtain consent before sharing someone else’s information.

Interests and volunteering are optional evidence. Include them when they add a relevant skill, responsibility, or context. Describe the activity without claiming that participation proves a particular personality or moral quality.

Use a different structure for an academic CV

An academic CV needs evidence suited to the opportunity: research experience, education, teaching, publications, presentations, funding, and academic service may all matter. The relative emphasis depends on whether the position concerns research, teaching, or both.

Keep publication and qualification status explicit. Distinguish a published paper from a manuscript under review or in preparation, and a completed qualification from an ongoing one. Use a consistent citation style and check the institution’s requested sections and limits.

A funder or institution may instead request a narrative CV or a prescribed contribution statement. Use its template rather than sending a conventional list of appointments and publications.

For those specialist applications, consult the institution’s guidance and seek feedback from someone familiar with the field. The concise business CV structure earlier in this guide should not determine what scholarly evidence you leave out.

Use editing tools without changing your history

An AI assistant or grammar checker can help identify repetition, unclear sentences, and inconsistent wording. Give it the vacancy and the relevant material with unnecessary sensitive information removed.

A focused instruction is:

Review this CV for clarity and relevance. Preserve the facts, titles, dates, and level of responsibility. Ask questions where evidence is missing. Do not add skills, achievements, qualifications, or numbers.

Check every proposed edit. Confirm that a stronger verb still describes what you did, an expanded abbreviation remains accurate, and a suggested number has a real source.

Treat automated matching scores as tool feedback. They are not evidence of the employer’s assessment or a guarantee that an application will progress.

Run a final application check

Before sending your CV:

1. Confirm that it is the right document type for the vacancy.
2. Check the page limit, requested sections, file type, and application instructions.
3. Verify titles, dates, credentials, skill levels, and outcome claims.
4. Open professional links while signed out and check sharing permissions.
5. Read the exported file for missing content, spelling, and layout problems.
6. Correct imported application fields and attach the intended version.
7. Save a copy of the submitted document with the vacancy details.

Ask a reviewer which role the CV supports and which evidence makes that fit clear. Their questions can reveal missing context that a spelling check will not catch.

If you already have a complete document and need to update it for a new application, Jobicy’s eight reminders for refreshing your resume provides a focused update checklist.