Six seconds. That is roughly the attention a CV earns on its first pass through a recruiter’s hands — a scan for titles, employers, numbers and fit before the verdict that decides whether it earns six minutes. The hiring professionals interviewed across our careers pages are unanimous about what survives that scan in 2026, and it is not elegant fonts or a daring layout. It is evidence, written in the employer’s language.
Start with the summary nobody writes honestly. Three lines, specific: your level, your specialism, your standout result. Recruiters say a tailored summary is the fastest signal that a candidate has read the job and recognised themselves in it — or has not. Below it, experience bullets must do the only job that matters: prove impact. “Responsible for social media” is a duty; “grew engagement 240 percent and cut content costs by outsourcing design” is evidence. Numbers, scope and outcomes, in that order, on every line you can manage.
The algorithm reads first
Most large employers screen with software before any human glance. Applicant tracking systems search for the vocabulary of the job description — the actual tools, certifications and skills named in the advert. Mirroring that language truthfully is not gaming; it is translation. Career services such as the Prospects graduate careers site advise the same discipline: standard section headings, no text trapped in images or tables, and keywords earned by your experience rather than stuffed in hope.
What quietly kills applications
Recruiters’ rejection lists are monotonously consistent: unexplained gaps handled with silence instead of one honest line, skills sections claiming expertise the interview will expose, a generic CV sent to thirty unlike jobs, and — the modern addition — AI-polished prose so smooth it says nothing, identical to four hundred other applications in the same pile.
One page or two — and other settled arguments
Recruiters will still argue about length at conferences, but their behaviour has converged: one page for early careers, two for experienced hires, and a third page read by essentially no one, ever. The creative industries forgive flair; corporate systems punish it, because the tracking software must parse the document before a human can admire it. Contact details belong at the top and professional — the email address from school is a small, free credibility decision. As for the photograph, the cover photo, the skills bar-chart awarding yourself nine out of ten: the recruiters’ ruling is unanimous enough to print on the wall. Anything that spends the six seconds on decoration instead of evidence is a tax the candidate pays to themselves. The CV is not a portrait. It is a proof, laid out for a very fast reader.
The 2026 CV, done right, is a short business case for an interview. It respects the six seconds, feeds the algorithm its keywords, and rewards the human reader with proof. Write the version of your career that is true, specific and easy to verify — then tailor it, every single time, to the one job in front of you.
