With hiring activity increasing across many markets, more professionals are considering career moves, but for many, the process can feel surprisingly overwhelming. It’s not just early-career professionals who feel this way either.

In our experience, some of the most senior and experienced individuals can find the process equally challenging, particularly if they haven’t needed to actively interview, update a CV, or benchmark the market for several years.

That’s why we’re launching a practical content series focused on helping professionals navigate the career move process with greater confidence.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing insights and advice, starting with one of the most important foundations: the CV.

Often overcomplicated, a strong CV should ultimately achieve one simple objective, and that is to clearly communicate your experience, impact, and value.

Having supported thousands of professionals across Market Access and Health Economics throughout Europe and the US, we’ve seen first-hand how small changes in positioning and presentation can significantly improve outcomes.

As always, our goal is to share practical guidance that genuinely helps people move forward in their careers.

85% Of the impact of a CV is in the first half of the first page of the document.

3 Tips for impact

1. Quantified, Relevant achievements in summary (e.g. generated £ 4 million revenue, led a team of 18 people)
2. Avoid waffle such as ‘A strategic thinker well versed in the market access field.’
3. Tailor your achievements to the role you are applying for, and research how you will be measured in the job.

Accuracy is critical.

3 Tips for accuracy

1. Spell check! It sounds obvious, but so many CVs are not spell checked (we ever see these from Med Writers sometimes!)
2. Check for continuity errors – are the dates right?
3. Check formatting – is the font uniform in terms of type and size?

Other considerations.

1. One in three CVs contains an outright lie. It will get found out, don’t make it yours!
2. Tailor your CV to the role you are applying for – do your homework before applying, and think about the problems your likely Line Manager will be looking to solve by hiring you
3. Keep your CV up to date. You never know when you might need it, and not always in a negative way. What if the perfect job comes knocking?