How Do I Create a CV?

Create an effective CV on CVapp.nz in 10 steps

This article walks you through all of the most important sections in our CV Editor from start to finish.

Step 1: Choose a template & accent color

Start by selecting a template with a design that is complimentary relevant to your industry. We are proud to now offer 26 unique and expertly designed templates to meet the diverse needs of job seekers. Don't worry too much about your template choice in the beginning. Once you add your CV details you can easily switch your design or re-order your sections. We also launched our Custom Color Picker Tool that offers a wide selection of colors through the use of a gradient color picker system. Creating a unique CV has never been easier!

Step 2: Add your personal details

Depending on your location or industry, some of the fields in this section might be more relevant than others. Feel free to skip or leave fields blank. Keep in mind that this is the very first section someone will look at, so you want to make sure ensure you're making a good impression. 

Here are a few fields in the Personal Details section worth noting:

  • Job title: this is the title of the job you want to get or are applying for. This field goes at the very top of your CV and is a great way to customize your CV for each application.
  • Photo: if you have a professional photo available, you can upload it in this section too. Remember- some of our templates are designed to work with photos and others aren't. 

Step 3: Write your professional summary

Your professional summary is your chance to catch a reader's attention using 3-4 simple sentences about your overall career journey, your match for the role, and your intentions for the future. 

Step 4: Add links

Links are a great way to make up for the fact that space on your CV is limited. Include additional information by including a link to your social profiles, personal website, or online portfolio. 

Step 5: Add your employment history

This is the main part of your CV. Include roles during the last 10 years featuring relevant experience. 

Most modern CV use bullet points, keywords, and focus on outcomes in this section. The hardest part of writing this section is typically figuring out the best way to use as few words as possible, while accurately communicating that your experience has equipped you with the right skills for the job you're applying to. 

If you get stuck, take a look at how your old job description used bullet points or even how the job posting uses bullet points to describe the new job you want. Your CV should have a similar format with similar keywords.

Step 6: Add your education

As a rule of thumb, always include your highest level of education. If you have a Master's Degree, it isn't necessary to include your High School details or even Associate's Degree details. Remember- space is limited. If you have extensive work experience, extra education details aren't especially important to include. However, if this is a CV for your first job in a career after school, then it is appropriate to elaborate on your educational experience in this section.

Step 7: List your skills

The Skills Section is a great way to communicate details about yourself in a format that requires very few words and space. Our templates are designed to maximize the visual presentation of your experience with specific skills. Skills can also be an effective way to optimize your CV with relevant keywords. 

Another helpful new feature of our CV Builder is our Skills Suggestion tool. Knowing what skills to list can be difficult, but with the help of our machine learning algorithms, CVapp.nz now does the work for you. Our CV builder will automatically suggest likely skills at the top of the section. As you add them, the system will analyze the current picture and suggest new relevant skills, which you can adjust in placement and experience level.

For example, the skills a Sales Manager might add could be things like: Sales, CRM, Sales Development, Sales Management, Salesforce, Pipeline Review, etc. Check out our library of CV Examples to see skills specific to your industry. You can also let the Skills Suggestion tool simply do the work for you. 


Step 8: Add special sections & customize the layout.

At the bottom of the editor are a few optional sections to include, such as courses, references, languages, extra-curricular activities, and internships.  

You can even add a Custom Section and give it whatever title you'd like. Once you add special sections, you can reorder any section on your CV easily as seen here.   

Our Section Title Editor is another way to make CV writing easier, allowing you to customize your CV to your liking. You can easily rename and edit section titles to meet your CV needs and goals. 


Step 9: Edit Edit Edit

This is the most important part of all! Before submitting a CV, be sure to take the time to review and edit. Read it backwards. Read it out loud. Ask a friend to take a look. It is incredibly easy to make a typo and not realize it. We try to work with most spellcheck tools, but please don't rely on the app or spellcheck to guarantee a typo-free and grammatically correct CV.

It's also likely you'll end up with more content in your CV than you have space for. Reviewing and editing down your CV to include only the most important details is a critical step toward creating a focused and impactful CV.


Step 10: Download or share your CV

Once you edit your CV, there are a few different steps you can take from here:

We are excited to now offer the Docx (Word) export feature for our popular template “Going to Dublin.” But don't worry too much about your template choice in the beginning. Once you add your CV details you can easily switch your design or re-order your sections. 


Match your Cover Letter to your CV

Don’t forget we also now offer 18 outstanding cover letter templates to accompany your CV. The sleek and modern designs match our CV templates, helping your job applications to stand out even more. Simply click on the Cover Letter tab on your Dashboard and begin creating the perfect Cover Letter to take your application to the next level You can even merge your CV and Cover Letter into one single document to send to potential employers. This PDF merge option not only adds to your convenience, but also the convenience of recruiters, and that is a win-win!

Don’t forget to utilize our new Statistics feature that allows you to see your CV views over the short and long term. Find out how long someone viewed your CV and from what location. Being able to identify global opportunities based on the city/country of your CV viewers will help to ensure you don’t miss engaged recruiters!

Please also be sure to read our Newsletter, which is chock full of the latest and greatest CV and career tips. Every two weeks our career experts gather the best CV & job tips and deliver them straight to your inbox. Professional lifehacks, job search methods, CV studies, productivity and mental wellness tips, and more - readable in just 15 minutes or less!

We also like to encourage our visitors and users to check out our stellar reviews on Trustpilot. We work hard to please you all, and we are so glad that we do. 

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