A recruiter or selection panel spends very little time on each CV in the first round. Their question is simple: does this person meet the requirements in the advert? A CV that answers that question in the first half-page gets read further. One that makes them hunt for the answer usually does not.
The structure that works
- Name and contact details. Full name, cellphone number, a professional email address and your town or city. Your full street address is not necessary.
- Profile. Three or four lines summarising who you are, your main experience and what you are looking for. Make it specific: "Administrative clerk with four years' experience in records management and procurement in a provincial department" is far stronger than "hard-working, motivated team player".
- Work experience. Most recent first. For each job: post title, employer, dates (month and year), and three to six bullet points describing what you did and achieved.
- Education. Highest qualification first, with institution and year. Include matric if it is your highest qualification or if the advert asks for it.
- Skills. Specific, relevant skills: software you use, languages you speak, a driver's licence, professional registrations.
- References. Two or three people who have supervised your work, with their titles and current contact numbers.
Write achievements, not just duties
Duties describe the job; achievements describe you. Compare:
- Duty: "Responsible for filing."
- Achievement: "Reorganised the unit's paper filing system and cut the time to find a file from days to minutes."
Where you can, add numbers — the size of the team you supported, the number of clients you served each day, the budget you helped manage. Numbers make your experience concrete and easy to compare.
Tailor it to every advert
You do not need to rewrite your CV for each job, but you should adjust it:
- Read the requirements and duties in the advert and underline the key words.
- Make sure those words appear in your profile and experience where they honestly describe your work.
- Move the most relevant experience and skills higher up.
Many employers screen applications with software, and almost all human readers skim. In both cases, using the same language as the advert makes the match obvious.
Length and layout
Two pages is enough for most people; three can be fine for long careers. Use one clean font, clear headings, consistent dates and plenty of white space. Save and send it as a PDF unless the employer asks for another format, so the layout does not shift when it is opened on a different computer.
Our free CV builder creates a neat, consistently formatted CV that you can download as a PDF.
What to leave out
- Your ID number. It is not needed to assess your application and can be misused if your CV ends up in the wrong hands. Provide it on official forms such as the Z83 when asked.
- A photo, unless the advert asks for one.
- Personal details that are irrelevant to the job, such as religion or marital status.
- Long lists of school subjects once you have post-school qualifications or work experience.
- Unexplained jargon and abbreviations from a previous employer.
Be honest
Qualifications and employment history are routinely verified, especially for government posts. An inflated title or a qualification you have not completed can cost you the job even after you have been appointed.
Final checks
- Spelling and grammar — ask someone else to read it.
- Dates — no unexplained gaps or overlaps. A short line such as "Career break: caring for a family member" is better than an unexplained gap.
- Contact details — test the email address and make sure your voicemail is set up.
- File name — "Thandi-Mokoena-CV.pdf" rather than "CV final final 2.pdf".
If you have little or no work experience, read our guide to writing a CV with no experience.