In today’s competitive job market, your CV is more than just a document. It is your first impression, your professional story, and often your only opportunity to convince a recruiter that you are worth speaking to. Whether you are entering the workforce, making a career change, or targeting your next senior role, a well-crafted CV can make all the difference.
At WRS, our recruiters work across energy, engineering, construction, and offshore sectors globally. We see thousands of CVs every year. These ten tips reflect what consistently works.
1. Tailor Your CV to Every Role You Apply For
A generic CV sent to multiple employers rarely works. Recruiters and hiring managers can tell immediately when a CV has not been customised for the role in front of them, and it signals a lack of genuine interest.
Before you apply, read the job description carefully. Identify the key skills, experience, and qualifications the employer is looking for, and make sure your CV speaks directly to them. Reorder your bullet points to lead with the most relevant experience. Adjust your profile to reflect this specific opportunity.
Practical steps:
- Mirror the language and terminology used in the job description
- Prioritise the experience most relevant to this role
- Remove or de-emphasise experience that is not relevant to this application
Many employers use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to screen CVs before a human reviews them. A CV that does not include the keywords from the job description may be automatically filtered out, regardless of how strong your actual experience is.
2. Use a Clean, Professional Format
Your CV needs to be easy to read quickly. Recruiters often scan a CV in seconds before deciding whether to read further. A cluttered or over-designed layout slows that process down and can work against you.
- Use a standard font such as Arial or Calibri at 10 to 12 point size
- Keep to two pages for most professionals; one page is acceptable for early-career candidates
- Use bullet points rather than dense paragraphs for work experience
- Avoid columns, tables, text boxes, graphics, and photos – these often cause problems with ATS software
- Save your CV as a PDF to preserve formatting across different devices
Simple, clear, and consistent formatting communicates professionalism. A well-structured CV is far more effective than a heavily designed one.
3. Open with a Strong Professional Profile
The profile at the top of your CV is the highest-value section on the page. It sets the tone for everything that follows, and a strong profile immediately tells a recruiter who you are and what you bring.
A good profile includes:
- Your professional title or area of expertise
- Years of relevant experience
- Your key strengths or specialist areas
- What you are looking for in your next role (optional, but useful)
Example:
“Project Engineer with 8 years of experience in oil and gas and renewable energy projects across the UK and internationally. Strong background in engineering design, contractor management, and project delivery from FEED through to commissioning. Seeking a senior project engineering role with an operator or EPCM contractor.”
4. Focus on Achievements, Not Just Responsibilities
Most CVs describe what a role involves. The best CVs describe what the candidate actually delivered. This distinction is what separates CVs that generate interviews from those that do not.
Compare these two bullet points:
- Weak: Responsible for managing a project team.
- Strong: Led a cross-functional team of 15 engineers and contractors to deliver a facility upgrade project on schedule and 8% under budget, with no recordable safety incidents.
Where possible, use numbers to make your achievements concrete: project values, team sizes, cost savings, percentage improvements, safety records. Even approximate figures add credibility and make your impact tangible.
5. Include a Focused Skills Section
A dedicated skills section helps recruiters and ATS systems quickly identify your core competencies. Keep it focused on skills that are genuinely relevant to the roles you are applying for.
- List technical skills specific to your discipline: software, tools, systems, standards
- Include industry terminology that would appear in job descriptions in your field
- Avoid vague soft skills such as “good communicator” or “team player” – demonstrate these through your work experience instead
- For technical roles, include relevant codes, standards, and regulatory frameworks you are familiar with
Quality over quantity. A focused skills section is more persuasive than a long list of loosely relevant competencies.
6. Get Your CV Structure Right
A well-structured CV makes it easy for a recruiter to find what they need quickly. Stick to a clear, standard structure.
Standard CV sections:
- Contact information: name, phone, email address, LinkedIn URL, and location (city and country is sufficient)
- Professional profile
- Work experience (reverse chronological order)
- Skills
- Education
- Certifications and professional memberships
What to leave out:
- A photograph (not required and not expected in most markets)
- Date of birth, marital status, or nationality (not relevant to your application)
- References or the phrase “references available upon request” (assumed by employers)
- Irrelevant work experience from very early in your career if you have significant professional history
Keep your contact details current. An outdated phone number or email address on your CV is a surprisingly common reason candidates miss out on being contacted.
7. Write Concisely and Use Active Language
Every word in your CV should earn its place. Vague or passive language dilutes your impact and makes it harder for a recruiter to understand what you actually do.
Start every bullet point with a strong action verb:
Delivered, managed, led, designed, implemented, negotiated, developed, reduced, increased, coordinated, supervised, established, optimised, secured.
- Remove filler phrases such as “responsible for” or “duties included”
- Be specific about your role and contribution – avoid “involved in” or “worked on”
- Proofread carefully for spelling and grammar errors – these create a poor impression for any role
Ask someone you trust to review your CV before you submit it. A fresh pair of eyes often catches things you have missed.
8. Optimise for Applicant Tracking Systems
Many employers, particularly larger organisations, use ATS software to filter CVs before a recruiter sees them. Understanding how these systems work gives you a genuine advantage.
- Use standard section headings: “Work Experience,” “Education,” “Skills,” “Certifications”
- Avoid placing key information in headers, footers, or text boxes – ATS software often cannot read these
- Include keywords from the job description naturally throughout your CV
- Spell out qualifications and certifications in full as well as using abbreviations
- Avoid graphics, images, and non-standard formatting
A simple test: paste your CV into a plain text document. If the content is still readable and logically ordered, it is likely ATS-compatible.
9. Highlight Relevant Certifications
In many sectors, certifications are not supplementary – they are baseline requirements. A well-qualified candidate whose credentials are buried or missing may lose out to a less experienced candidate whose qualifications are clearly presented.
Create a dedicated certifications section and position it clearly in your CV. Include the certification name, issuing body, date obtained, and expiry date where applicable.
Commonly valued certifications across energy, engineering, and construction:
- PMP or PRINCE2 (project management)
- NEBOSH IGC or National Certificate (health, safety, and environment)
- BOSIET / HUET (offshore roles)
- GWO Basic Safety Training (offshore wind)
- OSHA 10 or OSHA 30 (US-based roles)
- API certifications (inspection and integrity roles)
- Chartered Engineer status (CEng) or equivalent professional body membership
- Relevant technical licences and trade qualifications specific to your discipline
If you are currently working towards a certification, it is fine to list it as “in progress” with an expected completion date.
10. Keep Your CV Updated and Ready
Your CV is a living document. Opportunities in technical and engineering sectors can move quickly – sometimes a role is filled within days of being posted. If your CV needs significant work before you can apply, you may miss the window.
- Update your CV at the end of every significant project or role
- Add new certifications and training as you complete them
- Review your profile and skills section regularly to ensure they reflect your current experience
- Keep a full master version and create tailored copies for specific applications
It is also worth registering your CV with WRS even when you are not actively looking. Our consultants work across a wide range of global assignments, and having your details on file means we can approach you with relevant opportunities as they arise.
Ready to Take the Next Step?
A strong CV does not need to be complicated. It needs to be clear, specific, and honest about what you have done and what you can deliver. If you follow these ten principles, you will be better positioned than the majority of candidates in your market.
WRS connects skilled professionals with leading employers across energy, engineering, construction, and offshore sectors in the UK, USA, and worldwide. Whether you are looking for your next role, want expert guidance on your CV, or simply want to register your details for future opportunities, our team is here to help.
