How to Write a CV in 2026: A Step-by-Step Guide for Europe

Start with the job and the country, not the template

A CV is not a life story; it's an argument that you can do one specific job. Before you write a line, open the job ad and note the three or four things the employer cares about most: the skills, tools, qualifications and results it mentions. Everything on your CV should support those points. A CV that tries to fit every job usually fits none of them.

Then check the country. Europe has no single CV standard, and what looks professional in Madrid can look odd in Amsterdam. The main differences are whether to add a photo, your date of birth and your nationality, how to write dates, and how long the CV should be:

• Germany, Austria, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Poland, Czechia, Hungary, Romania, Greece: a professional photo is still customary, and date of birth and nationality are common.
• UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the other Nordic countries: no photo, no date of birth, no marital status. Recruiters there may screen out a CV that has them.
• Dates follow the local format: DD.MM.YYYY in Germany, Poland, Romania and Czechia, DD/MM/YYYY in France, Spain and Italy, DD-MM-YYYY in the Netherlands, YYYY-MM-DD in Sweden. For work history, month and year are enough.
• Applying across borders, or not sure? The safest default is no photo, no date of birth, and the language of the job ad.

The sections every CV needs, in order

1. Contact details: full name, phone, email, city and country, and a LinkedIn profile if it's up to date. A full street address is no longer needed.
2. Profile (or summary): three or four lines on who you are professionally, your strongest skills and what you're looking for. Write it last.
3. Work experience: your jobs in reverse chronological order (most recent first), each with title, employer, place, dates and 3–5 bullet points.
4. Education: degrees and qualifications, most recent first. Once you have a few years of experience, this moves below work experience and gets shorter.
5. Skills: 8–12 skills that match the job, grouped (for example technical, tools, and interpersonal).
6. Languages: each language with a level. In Europe, use the CEFR scale (A1–C2) or “native”, so recruiters in any country can read it.

Optional sections earn their place only when they help this application: certifications and licences (a driving licence matters for many jobs in Europe), projects, volunteering, publications, or interests that show something relevant. Leave out references (“available on request” is assumed) and anything you would not want to discuss in an interview.

Write your experience as results, not duties

The work experience section decides most interviews, and the most common mistake is listing duties. “Responsible for customer complaints” tells the reader what your job description said; “Resolved about 40 customer complaints a week and cut the average response time from two days to four hours” tells them what you achieved.

A simple pattern works for every bullet: action verb + what you did + result, with a number wherever you honestly can (money, time, volume, percentages, people). Three to five bullets per recent job is enough; older jobs can have one or two. Our guide to the work experience section has examples for many roles.

Choose skills the job asks for, and prove them

A skills list is only believable when your experience backs it up. Pick the skills the job ad names that you really have, use its exact wording (“stakeholder management”, not “working with people”), and make sure the most important ones also appear in your bullet points. Avoid filler like “hard-working” or “team player” unless you can show it; recruiters skip it.

How long should a CV be?

• One page if you're a student, a recent graduate or have under about five years of experience.
• Two pages for most experienced professionals. In Germany and the UK, two pages is normal and expected.
• Longer only for academic and research CVs, where publications and grants are listed in full.
• Cover roughly the last 10–15 years in detail; summarise older jobs in one line each, or leave them out.

Format it for people and for the ATS

Most employers receive applications through an applicant tracking system (ATS), which reads your CV before a recruiter does. A clean, single-column layout with standard headings (Work Experience, Education, Skills), a common font, consistent dates and real selectable text works for both the software and the person. Avoid text inside images, tables for important content, and skill bars or star ratings: the ATS can't read them and recruiters don't trust them.

Save and send your CV as a PDF unless the employer asks for Word, and name the file clearly, for example “Firstname-Lastname-CV.pdf”.

Final checks before you send it

• Does the top third of page one show why you fit this job? Recruiters often decide in seconds.
• Are the job ad's key skills and tools on the CV, in its own words?
• Is every date consistent and every gap explainable?
• Is it in the language of the job ad? Apply in English only when the ad is in English or the company works in English.
• Does it follow the country's photo and personal-data rules?
• In Poland and Italy, many employers still expect a short data-processing consent line at the bottom of the CV; add it when you apply there.
• Has someone else proofread it? Typos are still one of the fastest ways to be rejected.