CV Tips: 8 Fixes for Experienced Professionals in the UK

CV tips written for graduates won't fix a CV with twenty years on it.

An early-career CV struggles because there isn't much on it yet. An experienced CV struggles for the opposite reason: too much of the wrong thing. Duties instead of achievements. Verbs that hide what you actually did. Job titles and acronyms that only mean something inside your current organisation. Every one of those makes a hiring manager work harder to see what you'd bring, and plenty won't bother.

Here are eight CV tips for people 10 to 25 years into their careers, each shown on a realistic CV line.

1. Keep it to two pages

Two pages is the standard length for a UK CV, and it's enough for anyone with a long career. You get there by focusing on your last 10 to 15 years and condensing older roles into a line each, not by shrinking the font. Our guide on how long a CV should be covers what to cut.

2. Write your personal statement for the job you want next

Your personal statement should point at your next role, not summarise your last one. It's the first thing anyone reads, so it needs to answer one question quickly: where does this person fit?

Keep it to four to six lines: what you're known for, one result with a number, and the role you want next. Our CV personal statement guide has full examples.

3. Show achievements, not duties

Achievements show what changed because you were there. Duties only describe the job:

Duty:

Responsible for employee relations and performance management for 400 staff.

Achievement:

Cut formal grievances from around 30 a year to 8 by training 40 line managers to handle performance conversations early.

The first line could belong to anyone in that role. The second could only belong to the person who did it. Ask yourself one question about every duty on your CV: what got better because I handled it?

4. Use a simple formula for bullet points

Strong CV bullet points have three parts:

• Verb: what you did, in one strong word
• What you did: specific enough to picture
• Result: what changed, with a number where you can

One or two lines per bullet, three to six bullets for recent roles. If the result appears at the end of line four, move it to the start.

5. Choose action verbs that show your part

Some verbs quietly turn you into a passenger on your own projects:

| Instead of | Try | |---|---| | Helped | Led, drove, delivered | | Worked on | Built, designed, rebuilt | | Assisted with | Coordinated, organised, ran | | Participated in | Represented, negotiated, contributed | | Responsible for | Managed, cut, grew, launched |

Only use a stronger verb if it's accurate. If you supported a project rather than led it, say so and show what your part achieved. Specific and honest reads better than inflated.

6. Translate your transferable skills

Transferable skills only transfer if you translate them into the language of the sector you're moving into.

Claire (a made-up example) spent 18 years in retail and wants a move into operations. Her CV said:

Managed a busy retail store.

An operations director sees a shop. In their language:

Ran stock, rotas and loss prevention for a £9m store with 60 staff; cut shrinkage by a third in two years.

Same job, but now it reads as an operation.

7. Leave off what UK employers don't expect

A UK CV normally leaves out:

• A photo
• Your date of birth, age, marital status and nationality
• Your full postal address (town or city is enough)
• "References available on request" (employers assume it)
• An objective statement (your personal statement does that job better)

Taking these off often frees up space for an achievement that does matter.

8. Use UK spelling and a plain layout

Mixed UK and US spelling looks careless, so check for organise, programme, analyse and colour throughout. Keep the layout simple: clear headings, consistent dates and no text inside images or tables, so the CV reads cleanly however it's opened.

Three CV lines, rewritten

Max, the AI career coach at Maxtempo Career Elevator, rewrote each line after one question. All three people are made up for illustration.

Helen, HR Business Partner, Leeds, 15 years

• Before: Responsible for employee relations and performance management for 400 staff.
• Max's one question: "What got better because you handled it?"
• After: Cut formal grievances from around 30 a year to 8 by training 40 line managers to handle performance conversations early.

Raj, Engineering Manager, Cambridge, 13 years

• Before: Helped with the migration to a new deployment pipeline.
• Max's one question: "Which part was yours?"
• After: Led the move to a new deployment pipeline, taking releases from monthly to weekly for a 30-strong engineering team.

Claire, Store Manager moving into operations, Sheffield, 18 years

• Before: Managed a busy retail store.
• Max's one question: "What would an operations director recognise in your job?"
• After: Ran stock, rotas and loss prevention for a £9m store with 60 staff; cut shrinkage by a third in two years.

CV tips checklist

• Two pages, with full detail for the last 10 to 15 years
• A personal statement that names the role you want next
• Achievements with results, not lists of duties
• Every bullet starts with a strong, accurate verb
• Experience described in the language of the sector you're applying to
• No photo, date of birth or "references available on request"
• UK spelling throughout

FAQ

What are the best CV tips for experienced professionals?

Keep it to two pages, write your personal statement for the job you want next, show achievements rather than duties, start each bullet with a strong verb, and translate your experience into the language of the role you're applying for.

Should I put a photo on my CV in the UK?

No. UK CVs normally leave out photos, along with date of birth, age, marital status and nationality.

How many bullet points should each job have on a CV?

Three to six for your recent roles, each one or two lines long. Older roles need fewer, and anything from more than about 15 years ago can be condensed to one line.

How do I show transferable skills on a CV?

Describe what you did in the words the new sector uses and attach a result. "Managed a busy store" becomes "Ran stock, rotas and loss prevention for a £9m store with 60 staff; cut shrinkage by a third."

Should I tailor my CV for every job?

Tailor the top third: the target role in your personal statement and the order of achievements in your current job. The rest can usually stay as it is.

Want Max to look at yours?

Tips are easy to read and harder to apply to your own CV. In your Free Career Audit, Max asks what you want next, finds the one vague line on your CV, asks you one sharp question about it, and rewrites that line with you.

Take your Free Career Audit

All people, CVs and companies in this article are made up for illustration.