A CV that gets read
Build a CV that survives a quick skim: a strong top third, achievement bullets with real results, and the right conventions for Iran or abroad.
THE SKIM
Your CV's only job
A CV doesn't need to tell your life story. Its job is to get you an interview. The first look is usually a quick skim, a few seconds by some estimates, to decide whether it's worth reading properly. So what sits at the top, and how easy it is to scan, matters more than anything further down.
Two CVs with the same experience: one opens with a long paragraph about 'seeking a challenging position'; the other opens with the target role and two lines of proof. Only one gets a second look.
The shape that scans well
- Top third: name, phone, email, city, a profile link, then a 2–3 line summary naming your target role and your strongest proof.
- Experience in reverse order, newest first, with 3–5 bullets per job.
- One page early in your career; two is fine with long experience.
- Plain fonts, clear headings, white space. Save and send as PDF unless the ad asks otherwise.
Check yourself
Mahsa's CV opens with: 'Objective: to obtain a challenging position in a dynamic company where I can use my skills.' She's targeting junior accounting roles. Which change helps most in the first few seconds?
- Make the objective longer so it sounds more serious
- Replace it with two lines: target role plus her strongest proof
- Move it to the bottom of the page, under her hobbies
- Add a large photo and a colourful border so the page catches the eye
Show the answer
Replace it with two lines: target role plus her strongest proof
Yes. For example: 'Accounting graduate with a year of hands-on bookkeeping for a 20-person company; confident with Excel and invoicing.' It tells the reader in seconds who she is and why she fits.
THE BULLETS
Duties vs achievements
A duty says what you were supposed to do. An achievement says what changed because you did it. Duties sound the same on every CV; achievements are yours. A simple formula: action verb + what you did + the result, with a number when you honestly have one.
Duty: 'Responsible for customer emails.' Achievement: 'Answered about 60 customer emails a day and cut the reply time from two days to same-day.'
Before: 'Responsible for the shop's Instagram page.'
Ask three questions:
What did I actually do? planned and posted 5 times a week
What changed? followers 2,000 -> 9,000 in a year
What did it lead to? online orders roughly doubledAfter: 'Planned and posted five times a week on the shop's Instagram; followers grew from 2,000 to 9,000 in a year and online orders roughly doubled.'Every number here is one Omid can explain in an interview. If you don't know an exact figure, a fair estimate with 'about' or 'roughly' is fine.
Check yourself
Duty or achievement?
- In charge of stock orders
- Reorganised stock orders, cutting items out of stock from weekly to rare
- Worked on the university website project
- Built the booking page for a university site used by around 3,000 students
- Duties included training new staff
- Trained 8 new cashiers; none needed extra supervision after week two
Show the answer
Duty: In charge of stock orders, Worked on the university website project, Duties included training new staff
Achievement: Reorganised stock orders, cutting items out of stock from weekly to rare, Built the booking page for a university site used by around 3,000 students, Trained 8 new cashiers; none needed extra supervision after week two
Applicant tracking system (ATS)
Software many larger employers use to collect applications, pull the text out of CVs and let recruiters search and filter them. It reads text, not design: text inside images, unusual layouts, text boxes and complex tables can come out scrambled or missing.
A simple one-column CV with headings like 'Experience' and 'Education' is read correctly almost everywhere, by software and by people.
Check yourself
Babak made his CV in a design app: two columns, icons for each section, and his skills list saved as part of an image. Since it looks great to people, screening software will read it just as well.
Show the answer
False
False. Software reads text, and his skills list inside an image may simply be invisible to it. Two columns and icons can also scramble the order. A clean one-column version is safer for online applications; he can keep the designed one for handing to people directly.
Iran or abroad: what goes on the page
Often expected in Iran
Many employers expect a photo, date of birth and, for men, military service status; marital status is common too. Persian or English, depending on the ad. Job-site profiles often follow the same fields.
Often expected abroad
In many English-speaking countries, CVs leave out photo, age and marital status, and one to two pages is the norm. Other countries have their own habits, so look at CVs from people hired there.
Check yourself
Match each situation to the better choice
Show the answer
- A Tehran ad asks for military service status → State it clearly near the top
- Applying in English to a company in Canada → Leave out photo and marital status
- A new graduate with little work history → Put projects and education higher
- Twelve years of experience → Two pages, detail on the last ten years
Check yourself
Tara has a year of experience and her CV runs to one and a half pages. She needs to cut. What should go first?
- Her strongest achievement bullets from her current job, since they take the most room
- Her contact details, to make space
- Her summary, since the bullets say it all
- Old, unrelated lines, like a school club role and hobbies
Show the answer
Old, unrelated lines, like a school club role and hobbies
Right. With one year of experience, one page is the aim. Cut what doesn't support her target first: unrelated, older, duty-style lines. Keep the top third and her best achievements.
Lesson recap
- A CV's job is to get an interview; the first read is a quick skim, so the top third matters most.
- Write achievements, not duties: action + what you did + result, with honest numbers.
- Keep the layout simple so both people and software can read it.
- Follow the conventions of where you apply: Iranian CVs and English CVs abroad differ.