Recruiters and hiring managers, well, almost everyone to be honest, can spot an AI CV immediately.
The endless bullet points. The emojis scattered through a professional document. The same words showing up over and over. “Dynamic.” “Passionate.” “Results-driven.” “Innovative.” CV after CV after CV. After a while it all blurs into one. And none of it actually tells me anything about the person behind it.
So if you’re sitting down to write your CV and wondering where to even start, here’s my honest advice. Start with you.
Your CV should sound like you, not like everyone else’s
Your CV isn’t a creative writing exercise. It’s not about sounding impressive. It’s about being clear.
Talk about what you’ve actually done. The impact you had. The problems you solved. In plain, simple language. That’s what makes someone stop and think, I want to speak to this person. Not the perfectly polished version that could belong to absolutely anyone. You.
The goal of a CV isn’t to sound perfect. It’s to make someone want to pick up the phone.
Tailoring doesn’t mean starting from scratch
A lot of people think tailoring their CV means rewriting the whole thing for every application. It doesn’t.
It means making sure the right things stand out for that specific role.
Read the job description properly. Notice the language they use, the skills they keep mentioning, the problems they’re actually trying to solve. Then look at your CV and ask yourself honestly, does this clearly show I can do those things?
Sometimes that’s a small tweak to your opening summary. Sometimes it’s reordering a couple of bullet points. Sometimes it’s just adding a result you’d forgotten you achieved.
This isn’t about lying or inflating anything. It’s about making it easy for a busy hiring manager to see the match quickly. Most will spend around 30-60 seconds on your CV before deciding whether to read on.
Make those seconds count.
Where to actually start
If you’re staring at a blank page, start with a structure you trust rather than a blank document and a prayer.
I’ve put together two free resources to help:
A CV template that gives you the right shape to work from, with guidance notes throughout so you know exactly what goes where and why.
A CV checklist to run through before you hit send, covering tone, tailoring, and the common mistakes that cost people interviews without them realising.
Neither of them will write your CV for you. Nothing should. But they’ll make sure that when you do write it, it actually sounds like you.
Download the CV template and checklist here
And if you’d like a second pair of eyes before you send anything off , you know where I am