How to Update Your CV:
What to Add, and What Comes Off
Last updated 15 September 2026
Updating a CV is an editing job and almost every guide treats it as a writing job, which is why it feels harder than it is. You are not short of material. You are short of space, and the difficult decision is what comes off. Six steps in the order that makes it quick, plus a ninety minute version if you have a deadline this week.
The Mistake That Makes This Take All Weekend
Opening the old document first. Within two minutes you are rewording a bullet from a job you left in 2024, an hour later the file looks slightly different and nothing has been decided. Editing sentences is comfortable and it is not the work.
The work is two decisions. What has happened since the last version that deserves space, and what comes off to make room for it. Both are much easier with a list in front of you, which is why the list comes first and the document second.
The second mistake is starting again from a template. It feels decisive and it throws away the thing hardest to reconstruct, which is the specific detail in your existing bullets. Update the document you have.
The Six Steps, In Order
1Write the list before you open the file
Everything you have done since the last version, from records rather than memory: your calendar, your sent email, old project folders, the notes app. Do not filter yet. The reason this comes first is that opening the document puts you into sentence editing, which feels productive and answers none of the questions that matter.
2Add everything new, roughly, before judging anything
Put the new material into the relevant sections without worrying about length. The page will be too long and that is the point: it is far easier to see which of the old lines are weak when the new ones are sitting next to them. Judging what to cut on an empty page is guesswork.
3Cut from the oldest and least relevant end
Now get back to length. Old part time work goes to one line and then goes entirely. Coursework comes off once you have real work in the same area. Courses older than about three years that the advert does not mention come off. You are not deleting your history, you are deciding what is worth the reader's attention on this application.
4Reread every surviving bullet for a consequence
Including the old ones. A bullet you wrote two years ago described the job you had just started, and you now know how it turned out. This is the step that most improves an updated CV and the one people skip because the old lines feel finished.
5Rewrite the top last
The summary is a summary of a document that has just changed, so writing it first guarantees it describes the old one. Three or four lines naming the field, what you can do, and the evidence below that supports it.
6Check it still parses, then check it against a real advert
Two years of edits is how tables, text boxes and stray formatting creep in. Confirm the file is still clean, then read it against an actual posting rather than against your own sense of whether it feels better.
What Stays and What Goes
The general rule is that space goes to whatever is most relevant to the advert in front of you, and that older material earns its place by being unusually relevant rather than by having happened. Pairs, so the comparison is visible.
| Keep | Cut |
|---|---|
| A role where you can now name the outcome | A role described only by its duties, in a field you have left |
| A course the advert in front of you asks for | A course older than about three years that nothing asks for |
| A project someone could look at | An interests line that could belong to anybody |
| Part time work, one line, for the behaviour | Part time work in full detail once you have graduate experience |
| Named tools you would be happy to be tested on | Self assessed ratings, progress bars and percentages of proficiency |
| A dated line explaining a gap | An objective statement about what you are looking for |
The Gap in the Dates
If the reason you are updating is that something interrupted the last two years, deal with it in one dated line and move on. Study, caring responsibilities, illness, travel, redundancy, looking for work. The unexplained hole is what makes a reader uneasy, not the reason, because an unexplained hole gets filled in with something worse than the truth.
If you did anything structured during it, put it in as ordinary content rather than as a defence. A course you finished, a volunteer role, a project, a piece of freelance work. It goes in the same sections as everything else, written the same way, and it stops the period reading as empty.
What not to do is stretch the dates on the roles either side of it. It is the single fastest way to lose an offer at reference stage, and it turns a gap you could have explained in one line into a question about everything else on the page.
The Ninety Minute Version
For a deadline this week. Set a timer for each block and move on when it goes, because the failure mode here is spending the whole evening on the first section.
- 20 minutes: list what is new, from your calendar, sent email and project folders. Do not filter.
- 20 minutes: add all of it to the relevant sections. Let the document run long.
- 20 minutes: cut from the oldest and least relevant end until you are back to length.
- 20 minutes: reread every bullet, including old ones, and give each a consequence.
- 10 minutes: rewrite the summary at the top, last, because the document underneath it just changed.
Then check it. Reading your own CV an hour after editing it tells you nothing, because you are reading what you meant. CV and Job Match reads the updated file against the posting you are aiming at and marks each requirement as evidenced, asserted or missing, which is the check the ninety minutes is for.
Keep a Record So the Next One Is Easy
The reason this job is painful is that it is being done from memory two years late. The fix is a private file nobody else reads, where you add a line whenever you finish something: what it was, what you did, what happened, any number you have to hand. It takes a few minutes and it can be as untidy as you like.
The value is in the detail, which does not survive. Six months after a project you remember that you did it. You do not remember what broke, what you tried first, or how long it took before and after, and those are exactly the specifics that make a bullet convincing. Ten minutes on the day buys a sentence you cannot write in an hour a year later.
What to Read Next
- How to improve your CV, in the order that matters. If the document is current and still not getting responses, the problem is one of three things and this separates them.
- How to find the skill gaps on your CV. If the update made it obvious that something is genuinely missing rather than badly described.
- The ATS CV template that actually parses. If two years of edits have left the file with tables, columns or stray formatting.
- How to list online courses on your CV. For the certifications section, which is usually the part most out of date.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I update my CV?
Do not open the old document first, because you will start editing sentences and never get to the decisions. Start with a list of everything you have done since the last version, written from your own records rather than memory. Then open the CV, add the new material at the top of the relevant section, and only then decide what comes off to make room. Adding before cutting is the right order: it is much easier to judge what is weak once the strong new material is sitting next to it.
How often should I update my CV?
Keep a running record continuously, rewrite the document per application. Those are two habits and most people only attempt the second, which is why it feels like such a large job every time. Add a line to a private notes file whenever you finish something, while you still remember what actually happened, then build the application version out of that record. The record is never sent to anyone, so it can be long and untidy.
What should I remove when updating my CV?
Oldest and least relevant first. Part time work from before your degree once you have graduate experience, modules and coursework once you have real work in the same area, courses older than about three years that nothing in the advert asks for, and anything you would not want to be questioned about. Detail on older roles compresses to a single line long before the role itself comes off.
How do I explain a gap in my CV?
Briefly, factually, in the CV, and without apology. A dated line saying what the period was, whether that is study, caring responsibilities, illness, travel or looking for work, stops the reader inventing a worse explanation. What creates suspicion is the unexplained hole, not the reason. If you did anything structured during it, a course, a volunteer role, a project, that goes in as ordinary content rather than as a defence.
Should I update my CV even when I am not job hunting?
Keep the record updated, not the document. The reason is practical: the detail that makes a bullet convincing, the numbers, the names, what actually went wrong, is gone within a few months, and no amount of effort later brings it back. Ten minutes after you finish something buys you a sentence you could not write in an hour a year later.
My CV is two years out of date and I have a deadline. What is the fastest order?
Ninety minutes, in this order. Twenty minutes listing what is new from your records. Twenty adding it in. Twenty cutting the oldest and least relevant to get back to length. Twenty rereading every bullet and asking what happened because you did it. Ten on the summary at the top, which is rewritten last because it is a summary of a document that has just changed. Do not restart from a template under deadline.
Should I change the CV for every application or just update it once?
Both, and they are different edits. The update brings the document current and you do it once. The tailoring reorders and trims it for one advert and you do it every time. Tailoring is cheap once the document is current, which is the main argument for doing the update properly rather than patching it per application.
Do I need to change the format when I update my CV?
Only if the current one does not parse. Changing layout is the most visible kind of work and usually the least valuable, and it is a very effective way to spend an evening without improving anything. If the file is single column, has plain headings and no tables or text boxes, leave the format alone and spend the time on the bullets.
More on your CV and your job search
- How to Find the Skill Gaps on Your CVWhich skills you are actually missing, how to tell a real gap from a badly described one, and which to close first.
- How to Choose Which Job to Aim For After GraduatingWork backwards from real job adverts rather than forwards from your degree. Five steps to a target you can reach.
- How to List Online Courses on Your CV in 2026Where the certifications section goes, the five parts of one entry, and worked before and after examples.
- What to Put on a CV With No ExperienceThe four things that fill a graduate CV, the order to put them in, and where a course actually helps.
- Best Online Courses to Change Career in the UKEight UK destinations, the domestic credential each needs beside the platform certificate, the funded routes, and the ONS advert count for every occupation.
- How to Plan Your Career Path with Online CoursesA practical method to map your direction, close skill gaps, and change careers.
Check the updated version against a real advert
You cannot proofread your own edits an hour after making them. Paste the new file and the posting you are aiming at, and see which requirements it now answers.