Your CV is read twice: once by software, once by a person with eleven other CVs open. It has to survive both.
Give it a structure you can scan in six seconds
Clear sections, generous spacing, one readable typeface. If a reader cannot find your last job title without hunting, the layout has already cost you.
Rewrite it for the role
Not a new document — a reordered one. Move the relevant experience up and cut the paragraphs that belong to a different job. A CV that fits every listing fits none of them.
Put numbers on your work
“Grew revenue 25%.” “Ran a team of ten.” “Cut deploy time from forty minutes to six.” Specifics are the difference between a claim and a record.
Use the words the listing uses
Applicant tracking systems match on terms, not on meaning. If the role says data pipeline and your CV says ETL, write both.
Then read it aloud once
Most of the mistakes that cost interviews are typos, tense changes, and a sentence that no longer parses after three edits. Reading it aloud finds all three.
Career Coach
Thomas Dubois
Career coach, formerly agency-side, now on the applicant's side of the table