Having Spent a Career Reading CVs…

Having worked in recruitment for a long time, reading CVs has become a daily occurrence — in fact, I sometimes even dream about them (mostly nightmares 😊)

You know what they say: spend 10,000 hours doing something and you’ll become a master at it. Well, I’ve definitely clocked that time reading, correcting, and improving CVs. Just wish I’d of put as much time in to my golf swing or this book I keep promising myself I will write.

Somewhere along the way, being able to spot the difference between a fantastic, impactful CV and a bog-standard list of job duties became a skill I never imagined I’d develop when I was nine.

Here’s some advice on what’s landing right now — and how to write a CV that actually gets your foot in the door.

Your CV’s Foundation

Opening statements is a whole other blog – which I’ll put out separately but think business plan and intent!

Professional/Personal statement should now read like a business case. You’ve claimed your space and earned attention in ten seconds or less — good. Now it’s time to focus on the proof. Because hiring managers don’t buy potential… they buy evidence. They buy outcomes.

Every number on your CV needs to tell a story of scale, reach, or transformation. These numbers become the foundation of interest and intrigue that turn your CV into a need for closer attention. Numbers are not just for salespeople or accountants this translates across operations, quality, compliance and certainly at executive and C-suite level these are more important than the university degree you got back in your youth!

Now it’s your turn to build that same layer of proof — line by line.

From Storytelling to Evidence

I’ve read thousands of CVs that sound lovely — but lovely doesn’t land interviews.

We all love a good story, don’t we? But when it comes to hiring, emotion takes a back seat to evidence. Recruiters/Hiring managers don’t have time to interpret potential; they’re scanning for proof of performance.

That’s why I tell my candidates particularly at senior/Executive level:
Every line on your CV should answer one question — what changed because of you?

Your cover letter is where you can show personality. Your CV is your highlight reel — ten to twelve lines of verified results !!

And here’s a secret: numbers are everywhere if you know where to look.

Operations improve efficiency. Educators raise outcomes. Customer service improves retention. Even if you think your work isn’t measurable — it is. You just haven’t interpreted it yet.

There are always numbers. You just haven’t found them yet.

Everyone should be acquainted with the S.T.A.R. Technique for navigating competency based interviews. Here is a cheat code from me I coin as A.I.M. technique for your CV.

• A = Action – What did you do?
• I = Impact – Why did it matter to the business?
• M = Metric – How much, how many, or how fast?

When these three appear together, they turn a description into evidence and outcomes.

Example from my own CV:

“Grown a startup boutique recruitment company into a six-figure consultancy, working with 5,000+ clients across 6 countries.”

• Action: Grown a startup
• Impact: Built a six-figure consultancy
• Metric: 5,000+ clients across 6 countries

That one line tells you three things — I can build, I can scale, and I can lead across borders. Take your time — this might be the most valuable, impactful time you spend during a recruitment process.

Common CV Pitfalls

Now we know what good looks like, let’s talk about what’s holding most CVs back.

❌ A list of adjectives — motivated, passionate, driven. Lovely, but unproven.
❌ A list of duties — responsible for managing a team. That’s expectation, not impact.
❌ Creative fluff — marketing ninja, operations rockstar. Fun online, but not credible on paper.

Here’s the difference……..

Weak: Assisted with marketing campaigns and helped improve brand engagement.
Strong: Co-developed  multi channel campaigns that increased brand engagement by 220% across existing and new target markets.

One describes motion; the other shows momentum.

Quick task:
Open your CV tonight.
Highlight every “helped”, “supported”, or “participated”.
Replace them with verbs that show ownership: “led”, “launched”, “delivered”, “increased”.
Now ask yourself: is your CV working as hard as you are?

Because your CV speaks for you in rooms you haven’t entered yet — and if it’s not showing evidence of results, it’s costing you opportunities.

Every time I rebuild a CV, I see the same shift:
✨ Clarity replaces clutter.
💪 Confidence replaces confusion.
📊 Proof replaces potential.

Whether you lead a team, manage clients, or run your own company, your CV should perform like an executive asset — converting visibility into trust, and trust into opportunity. Writing and reading a CV is not something people do regularly that’s why its good to get advice and guidance from people who have them as part of their lives in my case 24/7……. Any advice on dreamless sleep appreciated!