Career & Resume Blog

Expert tips on resume writing, job interviews, and career growth.

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Volunteer Work on a CV: When It Counts as Experience
CV writing 12 min read

Volunteer Work on a CV: When It Counts as Experience

Volunteering can sit in your experience section, in a separate section, or nowhere at all. The decision rule, how to write it without inflating, what it accidentally signals, and how it covers a career gap.

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The 15 Minute Check Before You Send Your CV
CV writing 12 min read

The 15 Minute Check Before You Send Your CV

A procedure, not a list of mistakes. The order to check things in, the errors only a process will catch, what to verify outside the document, and the leftover from your last application that ruins applications.

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CV for an Internship: What the Person Reading It Actually Wants
CV writing 12 min read

CV for an Internship: What the Person Reading It Actually Wants

An internship CV is judged differently from a job CV. What to put first, how to handle a short placement window, applying speculatively, and why the person reading it is usually your future supervisor.

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Certifications and Courses on a CV: Which Ones Are Worth Listing
CV writing 12 min read

Certifications and Courses on a CV: Which Ones Are Worth Listing

How to tell a certification that carries weight from one that fills space, where the section goes, how to handle expired and in progress qualifications, and what to do with online courses.

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Student CV Guide: What to Write While You Are Still Studying
CV writing 12 min read

Student CV Guide: What to Write While You Are Still Studying

A CV written during your degree follows different rules. How to handle expected graduation dates, coursework, projects, part-time jobs and grades, and what graduate scheme screening actually looks for.

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Language Skills on a CV: How to Write Levels You Can Defend
CV writing 13 min read

Language Skills on a CV: How to Write Levels You Can Defend

Most language lines on a CV are guesses. Learn what each CEFR level means in real work terms, which words to avoid, when a certificate helps, and how to describe a level you can defend in an interview.

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Should You Put a Photo on Your CV? Country by Country
CV writing 13 min read

Should You Put a Photo on Your CV? Country by Country

Where a CV photo is expected, where it is a liability, why employers in some markets prefer applications without one, and how to take a usable photo if you need one.

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CV Fonts and Layout: Making a Document Someone Can Actually Read
CV writing 12 min read

CV Fonts and Layout: Making a Document Someone Can Actually Read

Which fonts work and why the choice matters less than the sizes, how to set margins, spacing and hierarchy, what white space is for, and the design mistakes that cost you a reader.

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Should Your CV Be a PDF or a Word File?
CV writing 12 min read

Should Your CV Be a PDF or a Word File?

When PDF is the right choice and when Word genuinely is, the file types to avoid entirely, how to check your export worked, and what to call the file you send.

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Hobbies and Interests on a CV: When They Help and When They Waste Space
CV writing 12 min read

Hobbies and Interests on a CV: When They Help and When They Waste Space

Whether an interests section earns its place, which entries do real work and which are filler, what to leave out entirely, and how conventions differ between countries.

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References on a CV: Who to Ask, When to Give Them and What to Delete
CV writing 12 min read

References on a CV: Who to Ask, When to Give Them and What to Delete

Why the references line wastes space, when to actually provide names, how to choose and brief a referee, what employers really ask them, and how country conventions differ.

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Personal Details on a CV: What to Include and What to Delete
CV writing 13 min read

Personal Details on a CV: What to Include and What to Delete

The six lines that belong at the top of a CV, the personal information that is now a liability rather than a formality, how conventions differ by country, and where to put it all.

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The Education Section on a CV: What to Include and Where to Put It
CV writing 12 min read

The Education Section on a CV: What to Include and Where to Put It

Where education belongs at each career stage, what to list and what to drop, how to handle grades, unfinished degrees and foreign qualifications, and the mistakes that waste space.

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CV Formats Compared: Chronological, Functional and Combination
CV writing 13 min read

CV Formats Compared: Chronological, Functional and Combination

What each CV format actually does, who each one suits, why the functional CV has a bad reputation it partly deserves, and how to build the hybrid that solves most awkward histories.

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How to Put Numbers on Your CV When You Think You Have None
CV writing 14 min read

How to Put Numbers on Your CV When You Think You Have None

Why quantified bullets outperform duties, the four kinds of number worth using, how to recover figures you never recorded, and what to do in roles where nothing is measured.

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CV Action Verbs That Actually Change How a Bullet Reads
CV writing 13 min read

CV Action Verbs That Actually Change How a Bullet Reads

A working list of action verbs by function, the tired ones to retire, why swapping verbs alone rarely helps, and before and after rewrites showing what a stronger verb can and cannot fix.

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How to Write a Career Change CV
CV writing 9 min read

How to Write a Career Change CV

Why the functional CV backfires, how to find your real overlap, and how to translate your bullets into the target field's language with worked examples.

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What Skills to Put on a CV (And What to Leave Out)
CV writing 9 min read

What Skills to Put on a CV (And What to Leave Out)

How to choose skills from the job ad, group them so they scan in seconds, why star ratings hurt, and which skills belong in your experience instead.

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How Long Should a CV Be? One Page or Two
CV writing 7 min read

How Long Should a CV Be? One Page or Two

Where the one page rule came from, the right length by career stage, an ordered list of what to cut first, and how conventions differ by country.

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How to Write a CV Professional Summary (With Examples)
CV writing 7 min read

How to Write a CV Professional Summary (With Examples)

The four part formula, worked examples for graduates, mid level, senior, career changers and returners, and what to leave out of the top of your CV.

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How to Write a CV With No Work Experience (With Examples)
CV writing 17 min read

How to Write a CV With No Work Experience (With Examples)

No work experience yet? What goes in each CV section, a full worked example, lines you can copy, and how to turn school projects into real experience.

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11 Common CV Mistakes That Cost You Interviews
CV writing 9 min read

11 Common CV Mistakes That Cost You Interviews

The eleven errors that fill most rejection piles, each with a before and after rewrite so you can see the fix, plus the one mistake behind all the others.

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