Legitimate inclusions in a good CV that people rarely think of can be extremely effective. Sometimes I insert quotations from performance appraisals or testimonials, which can be just as convincing as list of sales figures. Sometimes I group clusters of information around a particular theme. For example, if someone is wanting to move into e-commerce from software sales, I look at their career so far, their studies, their leisure interests even, to find things that can substantiate their claim to be able to contribute in e-commerce. And how would they do that? Sometimes just using the right ‘buzzwords’ – words that display a knowledge of the field - can be just as good as concrete experience or academic study.

If you move your CV away from the boring list that reads like a job definition, you need to think fairly carefully about design and headings. There needs to be an opening section that headlines your offering and it will read best if you avoid yucky headings such as PROFILE, OBJECTIVE or SUMMARY. My preference is for no heading at that point because it is obvious that the document is a CV. Then either start with CAREER or start with PROFESSIONAL, a vague term that lets you detail everything: your training, your skills, your vision, your achievements, your intentions, the technologies you use....whatever it is that makes a strong case in the minds of the people you are seeking to influence.

When a person’s career is extremely strong in narrative terms I would lead out with that aspect rather than the professional attributes, which I would put on page 2 and abbreviate. A strong career means big title job roles, blue chip employers, latest technology expertise. If you have these things, flaunt them and make them the focus of your heading style. If you don’t, then flaunt what you do have.

These days you can write your CV any way that works. It is your judgement call. Recruiters respond to intelligent approaches and intelligent recruiters will look beyond any issues of aesthetic or convention if you catch their interest by telling them the stuff they need to know.

This is likely not to be the kind of stuff you can say in a boring list of bulleted job roles or unsubstantiated superlatives, which is why I am asking you to sit down and work at your CV now, well in advance of needing it, so your start to have a collection of designs, approaches, phrases and expressions that REALLY EXPRESS who you are and what you have to offer.

Writing at the level I am trying to describe is not about the nuts and bolts of putting text on a page. To achieve good results you may have to write several different iterations until the perfect version starts to shine through.