If you have never written a CV, the blank page is the hardest part. The good news is that a CV is a form, not an essay: there is a fixed set of sections and a sensible order to fill them in. Follow the sequence below and you will go from nothing to a finished, checked document without guessing what comes next.
Gather your raw material first
Before you open a template, spend ten minutes listing every job, course, project, and responsibility you have had, with rough dates. Do not edit yet, just collect. It is far easier to trim a full list than to summon details onto a blank page. Note any numbers you remember: how many people, how much money, how much time.
Build the sections in order
Work top to bottom so the document takes shape as you go.
- Header: name, one contact line, and a LinkedIn or portfolio link.
- Summary: three lines naming your role or goal and one real strength.
- Experience: each job as a header line plus bullets that state results.
- Education: qualifications with dates, fuller if you are early-career.
- Skills: the tools and methods the job advert actually asks for.
Write the summary last, once you can see what the rest of the CV is really saying. Trying to write it first is why so many beginners stall.
Tailor, then check, before you send
A CV is not written once and reused forever. For each application, adjust the summary and skills to echo the specific listing, using its own wording. Then test the document rather than trusting it: confirm it reads cleanly to screening software and has no gaps a recruiter would question.
Keep it to one or two pages, use one column, and export as PDF. If a section feels thin, that usually means you are describing duties instead of outcomes, so push each line toward “what changed.”
Starting from scratch is easiest inside the CV maker, which prompts you section by section, while the summary generator drafts that tricky opening. When your draft is ready, the resume checker flags weak spots and the tailoring guide shows you how to adapt it per job.