• A CV should ideally be one A4 page, two at the most. Avoid half pages.
• It is preferable to use a custom layout rather than a standard one.
• To help employers read and understand your CV, it is a good idea to put important elements in bold. Think carefully about what you want to emphasise.
• Include publications if relevant.
• Proofread your CV carefully for errors in spelling and grammar. It can be useful to have someone else read it as well.

• Include – at minimum – your name and place of residence. Your citizen service number and bank account are not relevant.
• Provide your telephone number and email address so that the employer can reach you. Make sure that you have a professional-sounding email address.
• Include your LinkedIn or Twitter only if you have an active professional profile.
• A photo on your CV is optional. While this is common in the Netherlands, it is not always appreciated in other countries such as the United Kingdom. If you do include a photo on your CV, choose a professional-looking photo in which you are smiling.
• A good profile text is concise (about 3 sentences), personal and concrete. Avoid general statements and clichés like "I am a team player" without context. Summarize your qualities, work experience and/or educational background and ambition. Add a personal touch by clearly explaining why you are interested in this field.

List your education, where you attended each programme and the dates. Be sure to include your specialisation, minor and thesis title.

• List not only the study programme but also any features or programme components that are relevant for the vacancy.
• Listing your thesis mark or GPA is optional. Tip: do so if you earned a 7.5 or higher.

List your internship and work experience, along with the corresponding dates. Describe your assigned tasks and emphasise the parts that are relevant for the vacancy in question. You can opt to combine multiple irrelevant part-time jobs into one mention. For example: ‘2015-2020 Various part-time jobs in the hospitality and administrative sectors’

In this section of your CV, you will list your activities as a member of a student association, athletic achievements, volunteer work or long trips. You should also mention the period in which the activities took place.

• Explain the nature of an organisation or association if this is not immediately clear.
• When describing your tasks, use pro-active ‘power verbs’ such as coordinate, organise, develop and implement.

This is where you discuss your relevant skills. Possibilities include the general skills that could be distilled from your experience, such as project management or organising events.

You can also include interests or hobbies along with your skills. By doing so, you add colour to your profile. This is not common practice everywhere: in the United States, for instance, hobbies are generally not included.

• List the languages you can speak and write. Here, you can identify your native language and any additional languages in which you are fluent or highly proficient.
• List your IT-related skills. Mention, for instance, if you know how to use SPSS, or list the MS Office and Adobe programmes with which you are proficient.