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Free CV Writing Advice

Putting together a top-notch CV involves a balancing act between the conventions of CV writing and the need to try to stand out from the competition.

Emperor Charles V is probably best known for his remark: 'I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men and German to my horse.'

I repeat this remark not to upset my German readers, but to illustrate a core truth about the nature of effective communication: getting your message over is about adapting your approach to the needs to your audience.

As a general principle, you're more likely to stand out for content than style. That said, a stylistically inept CV will undermine even excellent content. And for that reason, it's important to observe the stylistic conventions of CV writing. Here are five useful habits to adopt:

Keep it snappy

You don't need to use complete sentences. Concise, understandable phrases are sufficient. No sentence fragments, however. They are very. Irritating. To read.

Loiter within tense

Aim to maintain a consistent approach to tense throughout. Most if not all of your CV should be written in the past tense. After all, the light dust of history has settled on all of your previous jobs. When you're describing the role you're in now, some elements will be current, such as the work you do on a day-to-day basis. Other parts will be in the past, however, such as the project you led that finished a few months ago or maybe last quarter's results. If you have a combination of present and past bullet-points to convey, cluster the present together and report them first. This may sound a bit finicky, but mixing them up just looks plain wrong.

Use the third person

Write about yourself in the third person rather than the first. This will lend an air of objectivity and professionalism to the proceedings that using 'I', 'me' and 'my' lacks.

Avoid confusing turns of phrase

I once received a CV from an applicant who claimed that he could 'fire people with enthusiasm'. He wasn't invited to interview and so I still don't know whether he meant that he was a superb motivator or that he could sack people with gusto. Check that you've expressed yourself as clearly as possible throughout. Even better, get someone else to have a read, as they'll spot things that would sail past you unchallenged.

Don't try and be funny

You may have a take on life that's so amusing that your dinner party stories hospitalise accountants, but it's a different story when it comes to your CV. Humour depends on knowing your audience; you don't know the person who'll be assessing your CV so don't go there. And remember that puns are for children, not groan readers. (Sorry, couldn't resist it!)

Use plain English

In his 1946 essay 'Politics and the English Language', George Orwell came up with a set of six 'rules' for writing plainly and clearly. I think you'll agree they hold up very well as a set of principles for anybody writing their CV in the noughties:

Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech that you're used to seeing in print.
Never use a long word where a short one will do.
If it's possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
Never use the passive where you can use the active.
Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
Break any of these rules sooner than say anything barbarous.


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