A CV that survives being read on a phone
Two pages, no photograph, most recent job at the top. Most of the advice is about what to leave out.
Citadel Editorial1 September 20265 minute read
Assume your CV will be opened on a phone, in a hurry, alongside forty others. Everything below follows from that.
Two pages
Not one — you will cut things that matter. Not four. Two.
Most recent job first, with numbers
“Managed the sales team” is a job title restated. “Managed six sales staff across two regions; grew monthly revenue from TZS 40m to TZS 65m in eighteen months” is a reason to call you.
If you cannot put a number on it, put a scale on it: how many people, how many branches, how large a budget.
Leave out
Your photograph. Your marital status. Your date of birth. Your religion. Referee names and phone numbers — those people did not agree to be called by every employer you apply to, and a good employer asks for them at offer stage.
Keep
Your professional registrations, spelled out in full the first time: CPA(T), NBAA, ERB. Your languages, honestly graded. A working phone number and an email address you actually read.