Your CV is often a recruiter's first look at you, so it's important to make a great first impression. There's a knack to displaying your previous work, skills and achievements in their best light, so we've put together these simple tips on how to write a good resume.

Perfect profile = perfect fit

Your personal profile is the introduction to your resumé. It should sell your experience and expertise and show the recruiter that your goals are in-line with the job they are trying to fill. If you're applying for a marketing position, ensure your professional goals are in that field – don't write about your aspirations to go become a vet!

Go tailor made

Lots of job seekers try to save time by creating a generic curriculum vitae to send off with every application, but it makes sense to tweak your CV to each role. This way you can highlight experience relevant to the company's industry, and to the specific position.

Let your achievements shine

Rather than just listing your day-to-day work at previous positions, highlight what made you an asset to the company. Show off your areas of responsibility, then think of ways you excelled or improved the workplace. Awards and accolades, training other team members, implementing new systems, improving sales, and working on successful projects all look enticing to recruiters.

Can the clichés

Recruiters see so many resumés with overused phrases such as “team player” and “results oriented” every day that these words no longer ring true. Think of ways you can demonstrate those qualities instead – show your team skills by highlighting collaborative projects or share numbers to quantify your great results. Show, don't tell!

Triple-check the details

Spelling mistakes and typos are the number one sign that attention to detail is not your strong point. Avoid errors by reading through a couple of times yourself, using spellcheck, and asking a friend to proofread your CV – their fresh eyes might catch an error you've missed.

As for putting it all together in a nice format… well, we've done that bit for you! Download our free CV template here.