Your CV is often the first substantive impression a recruiter or employer gets of you. A strong CV therefore does not need to be spectacular. Above all, it should quickly make clear what experience you have, which expertise you have developed, and why that expertise may be relevant to a particular role.

This is especially true for specialised positions in areas such as finance, risk, legal, compliance, banking, and insurance, where the substance of your experience often carries significant weight.

An attractive CV design can help, but content and clarity remain more important than visual presentation.

A recruiter should be able to understand your professional background without having to search for the relevant information. Start with your contact details and, if appropriate, a link to your LinkedIn profile. A short professional summary can then explain in a few lines what your expertise is and where your professional focus lies.

Your work experience should follow, preferably in reverse chronological order. For each role, include the organisation, your job title, and the period during which you worked there. Then explain your responsibilities and the expertise you developed.

Your education, relevant certifications, and skills complete the picture.

There is no need to include personal information that has no relevance to your professional profile. For every section, ask yourself whether it helps an employer assess your candidacy more effectively.

This is where one of the biggest differences between an average CV and a strong one becomes apparent.

“Responsible for reporting”, for example, says very little. What kind of reporting? For whom? For what purpose? How complex was the environment?

“Preparing and analysing monthly financial reports for management” already provides much more context.

The same applies to other roles. Do not simply state that you worked in credit risk, compliance, or claims. Make it clear what your role actually involved.

Where possible, you can also mention results, scale, or level of responsibility. That does not mean every sentence needs to contain a number. The aim is to ensure that someone who does not know your organisation can still understand what you actually did.

Completely rewriting your CV for every vacancy is usually unnecessary. Adjusting the emphasis, however, is a good idea.

If a role strongly focuses on specific experience that you genuinely have, make sure that experience is easy to find. Feel free to use common industry terminology that also appears in the vacancy, provided it accurately reflects your experience.

This is useful not only for the recruiter reading your CV. Many organisations use recruitment software in which relevant terms can play a role in identifying and organising applications.

However, never try to artificially fill your CV with keywords. Recruiters quickly notice when terms are included without any clear experience behind them.

There is no universal rule stating that a CV must be limited to one or two pages. For someone with a few years of experience, two pages may be more than sufficient. A senior specialist or manager with an extensive career history may reasonably need more space.

Relevance is a better measure than page count.

A role you held fifteen years ago, for example, does not need the same level of detail as your current position. Give the most space to experience that is relevant to where you are today and where you want to go next.

A clean layout, sufficient white space, consistent headings, and an easy-to-read font all help. Charts claiming that you are “85% analytical” or “90% communicative” generally add little value.

For many specialised roles, a combination of technical expertise and interpersonal skills is important. Depending on your field, this may include financial analysis, reporting, regulation, Excel, SAP, or other systems, as well as communication, accuracy, stakeholder management, or problem-solving skills.

Here too, avoid simply adding a long list of skills.

If stakeholder management is important, it is much more credible when your work experience shows that you have actually worked with different internal or external stakeholders. Your experience should support the competencies you claim to have.

References usually do not need to be included on your CV by default. Employers typically request them when they become relevant during the selection process.

If you do want to list someone as a reference, only do so with their permission. After all, you are sharing someone else’s contact details, and that person should know that they may be contacted.

The traditional phrase “references available upon request” is acceptable, but not necessary either. In practice, this is generally understood.

Before sending your CV, read it as if you were the recipient. Is it clear within a short amount of time what you do? Does your professional progression make sense? Can the reader see what you specialise in? And are there any spelling or typing errors?

A strong CV does not try to tell the reader everything about you. It provides exactly enough relevant information to make them interested in the conversation that may follow.