When a client came to me, she had already created more than 3 versions of her CV for different positions, industries and levels of seniority. She was still receiving rejections and had become convinced that something was wrong with either her CV or the job market.
She had tried improving the wording with Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini, until her CV was full of buzzwords and professional jargon. The language sounded impressive, but even she felt that it no longer reflected who she was or what she had done.
Having spent over nine years recruiting for international tech companies, I looked at her CV as someone trying to assess whether she could do a particular job. Within the first few lines, I found it difficult to picture her everyday work. It read like a shopping list of things she believed recruiters wanted to see, with very little explanation of her individual contribution.
What was missing from her CV
She had followed a lot of advice suggesting that a CV should be as short as possible, ideally one page, because recruiters have no time to read. She was surprised when I started asking her for more details.
I do not need an account of every task a candidate has ever performed, but I do need enough context to understand the problems they faced, the decisions they made and the results of their work. A statement about supporting a team or managing customers tells me very little about the responsibilities someone took on or the level at which they operated.
Before making any changes to the document, I wanted to understand which jobs she was aiming for and whether those jobs made sense for the professional she had become.
We put the CV aside and talked about what she wanted next
We went through the activities she loved, the tasks she no longer enjoyed and the responsibilities she wanted more of in her next role. Together, we decided which experiences deserved more space on her CV and which belonged to an earlier chapter of her career.
Some of her past work had been mainly operational, while her more recent projects involved several countries, improvements to business processes, value for customers and better collaboration between teams. These contributions were closer to the work she wanted to pursue, yet they were getting lost among descriptions of everyday tasks.
The achievements she had reduced to a few generic words
She shared an example of noticing gaps in the way information was organised at work. She took the initiative to create documents that helped colleagues find what they needed much faster. This approach was later adopted by other branches and reduced the time required for certain activities.
On her CV, it appeared as a generic statement about helping the team organise information. From that description, a recruiter would have had no reason to assume she had identified the problem herself and introduced a solution that was useful beyond her immediate team.
Another example involved clients who had been at risk of leaving the company. She had found ways to address their specific needs and proposed different forms of collaboration, helping the business avoid significant lost revenue. Her CV reduced this to managing client relationships, without showing the initiative or judgement involved.
As she explained these situations, I could see that she had repeatedly taken responsibility without waiting for instructions, often when resources were limited or circumstances were difficult. She had been presenting herself as one small part of a machine, while leaving out much of what she had chosen to do on her own initiative.
Why she had overlooked her own contribution
She had a strong work ethic and assumed she was simply doing what she was paid to do. Taking responsibility, helping others and putting out one small fire after another had become part of her daily routine, so she rarely stopped to think about the difference she was making.
At work, she did not feel appreciated, and she had few opportunities for meaningful performance conversations or recognition from her manager. When we started examining her projects in detail, she was surprised that a recruiter would care about those stories. Her confidence grew as she began to take ownership of achievements she had previously dismissed as ordinary.
We also changed the level of jobs she applied for
She had been applying to positions below her experience level, following advice that suggested those jobs would be easier to obtain. Instead, she was receiving rejection after rejection.
From my experience in recruitment, employers consider whether a candidate's seniority, motivation and likely salary expectations fit the role. If you have demonstrated ownership, achieved measurable results, mentored colleagues and managed difficult situations with limited resources, those contributions should inform the level of positions you target.
We narrowed her search to roles at her level or slightly above it and reduced her CVs to two versions, each supporting a clear direction. She also became more selective about employers, having realised how much the excessive competition and lack of respect for personal boundaries in her current workplace had affected her. Company culture and opportunities to grow became part of her decision-making alongside the role itself.
Fewer applications and a better job within four months
As she focused on more suitable positions, she submitted fewer applications and started receiving more interviews and positive responses. In less than four months, she secured a position at one of the financial-sector companies she had most wanted to join.
The new employer was much larger than her previous company, with a higher salary, better benefits, a stronger culture and real opportunities for professional growth. These were the things she had hoped to find when she first approached me.
What I would tell someone who recognises themselves in this story
When you feel stuck in your career, it is easy to repeat the same actions or follow so much advice that you lose track of what applies to your circumstances. Guidance intended for someone at the beginning of their career may have little relevance for a professional with fifteen years of experience, or for the market in which they want to work.
If you feel underused or undervalued, I would encourage you to investigate that feeling. Think about the problems you notice before anyone asks you to solve them, the additional responsibilities you choose to take on, the difficult clients you manage and the colleagues you help when they need support. Your personality and the way you respond when things go wrong are part of your professional value too.
When you have done these things for years, you can start taking them for granted because they come naturally to you. Yet what feels easy to you may be difficult for someone else, and those contributions may be among the strongest examples of what you could bring to another employer.
It can be difficult to recognise this on your own, after years of working in the same environment and accepting certain beliefs about your abilities. Speaking with someone external, who is curious about your experience and willing to examine it carefully, can give you a different perspective on the roles and salaries you could realistically pursue.
If you are preparing yet another CV version and still receiving the same response, start by asking whether the experience you are presenting reflects the professional you have become and the work you want to do next. That question deserves some attention before another evening spent changing the wording.
