c-v.ai / Guides

CV guides

How to write a CV, or résumé, that gets read wherever you apply, one question at a time. By Paul and the c-v.ai team, drawing on years of hiring across industries and of writing CVs professionally.

• How to tailor your CV to a job descriptionTailor your CV or résumé to any job ad in six steps: sort must-haves from nice-to-haves, match your evidence, rewrite the top, with a full before-and-after example.
• How to make your CV ATS-friendlyWhat applicant tracking systems need from a CV, a five-point checklist you can test yourself in a minute, and how c-v.ai checks every PDF on your iPhone.
• Should you use ChatGPT or a CV app to write your CV?An honest comparison of writing your CV with ChatGPT or another chatbot and with c-v.ai, an AI CV builder for iPhone, with when each one is the better choice.
• How to write a CV, step by stepHow to write a CV step by step: format, contact details, personal statement, achievement bullets, education, skills, length by country, and a full example.
• How to write a CV with no work experienceWhat to put on a CV when you have no work experience, how to lay it out, a full example for a school leaver, and notes for the US, UK, South Africa and India.
• What an ATS score means, and what it doesn'tWhat the ATS score from an online CV checker measures, why the same CV gets different scores, and what employers' systems actually need from your CV.
• ChatGPT prompts for your CV that keep it trueEight copy-ready prompts for ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini that improve and tailor your CV using only your real experience, plus what to remove before you paste.
• The best CV and résumé apps for iPhone, comparedA fair comparison of CV and résumé apps for iPhone, including Canva, Word, Kickresume, CV Engineer, Indeed and c-v.ai, checked on the App Store on 10 November 2026.
• Canadian résumé format: length, what to leave off, and tips for newcomersHow to format a Canadian résumé in 2026: one or two pages, no photo, SIN or date of birth, references on request, plus tips for newcomers and French applications.
• Is it safe to put your CV into ChatGPT?What ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini do with a CV you paste in, from their own help pages, and which contact details and ID numbers to remove first, by country.
• CV or résumé? What each country expectsWhich word each country uses, how long a CV or résumé should be, and whether to add a photo, date of birth or ID number, plus the US academic CV.