Most CVs get rejected in the first ten seconds, not because the person is unqualified, but because the recruiter cannot quickly see the fit. A good Nigerian CV is short, specific and easy to scan. Here is the structure that works.
Keep it to two pages
One page if you have under five years of experience, two pages at most otherwise. Nobody reads a five-page CV. Cut the objective statement, cut the long list of hobbies, cut anything from secondary school once you have a degree or real work history.
Lead with a two-line summary
Right under your name and contact details, write two lines that say who you are and what you do. For example: "Accountant with four years in FMCG, ICAN part-qualified. Strong on reconciliations, payroll and month-end close." That single line tells a recruiter whether to keep reading.
Write achievements, not duties
Anyone in your role has the same duties. What got you noticed is results. Swap "responsible for sales" with "grew retail sales by 30% in Lagos and Ibadan over eight months." Numbers make you real.
- Start each bullet with an action verb: led, built, cut, grew, recovered, launched.
- Put a number in it wherever you honestly can: naira, percentages, headcount, time saved.
- Three to five bullets per role is plenty. Recent roles get more detail, older ones less.
Make it ATS-friendly
Many employers screen CVs with software before a human sees them. Use a simple layout, real headings (Experience, Education, Skills), and normal fonts. Skip text inside images, fancy tables and two-column designs that confuse the parser. Save and send as PDF unless the employer asks for Word.
Match the words in the job post
If the advert asks for "financial reporting" and "IFRS," use those exact words where they honestly apply to you. This is not keyword stuffing, it is speaking the same language the recruiter is searching for. Our free CV checker on the site scores how well your CV matches any job.
Get the basics right
A working phone number and a professional email. Not babygirl_lagos@... Proofread twice, then ask someone else to read it. One careless typo on a finance CV quietly costs you interviews.
You can build a clean CV in minutes with the CV builder in your dashboard, then tailor it to each job with our AI tools.