The small CV change that increases your chances of landing the job

New year, new job. Almost half of UK office workers are planning to switch careers in 2026, with 38% already actively searching job listings, according to the Global Payroll Alliance.

But there’s no way to sugar-coat it, competition is stiff — there’s currently 2.5 unemployed people per job vacancy, the highest level since July 2015 (excluding the pandemic).

One job-seeker even shared with Metro that at a recent job interview, she was told there’d been 615 applicants for her role. Talk about pressure.

But, there is one thing you can do to give yourself a fighting chance. According to experts, a simple tweak to your CV can make all the difference…

How to improve your CV

It’s fairly standard on a CV to list your past job titles, with a few bullet points about what that role involved, but this is where Jim Moore, employee relations expert at HR consultants Hamilton Nash, says people are going wrong.

‘I see lots of CVs where applicants describe in great (and boring!) detail all the tedious tasks they performed in their role, but never how it benefited the company,’ he tells Metro.

‘Swap outputs for outcomes, and use examples and numbers where possible to show how you added value for your employer.’

And Liz Sebag-Montefiore, career coach and CEO of HR consultancy 10Eighty, agrees.

‘It makes a huge difference because hiring managers skim CVs quickly,’ she tells Metro. ‘Leading with outcomes helps them instantly answer the question “What value does this person create?”.

‘It also signals commercial awareness and confidence, which are often what differentiate candidates competing for the same role or pay band.

‘This shift can turn a CV from descriptive into persuasive, without adding length or exaggeration.’

How do you do it?

As Liz says, we want to avoid just describing what we do in our day-to-day role.

‘Many CVs open with a long list of duties: “responsible for…”, “supported…”, “involved in…”,’ Liz explains. Rewrite the first three to five bullet points in each role to lead with results, not tasks.

‘For example, instead of “Managed stakeholder relationships”, say “Improved stakeholder engagement, reducing project delays by 20%”.’

Just be cautious not to omit the key words from the job description, as many companies now use AI to filter out applications first by scanning for the terms which match up with the advertisement.

Jim adds: ‘Your CV will work harder if you stop purely listing duties and start showing what you achieved.’

A common CV crime

So, we’ve gone over the small tweak you can make, but what about the one critical error people make when applying?

Jim, who has been through a mountain of applications in his career, says: ‘One of the worst CV mistakes you can commit is to send exactly the same CV to every role you apply for without updating it.

‘There’s nothing worse than a generic CV that doesn’t hit the mark.’

Why does this harm your chances? Well, Jim adds that a CV need to ‘scream out “we’re made for each other”‘.

‘That means you need to tailor your CV to the employer and role you’re applying for,’ he explains. ‘You need to stand out as relevant before a human reader yawns and moves on.’

The questions Jim says you can answer to show you’ve tailored your application include:

• What about the employer that really aligns with your career aspirations?
• What makes this your dream job, as opposed to a safe haven until you find something better?
• How do you nail what they’re looking for?
• What makes you a perfect fit for the role?
• What makes you a better investment than other candidates?

‘A clear, tailored CV that highlights real achievements stands out far more than one packed with vague descriptions,’ he says.

So, what are you waiting for? Get applying.

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