How to write a CV for jobs in Nigeria

A strong CV for a job in Nigeria is a short, accurate evidence document tailored to one role. It should help a recruiter find your relevant experience, skills and results quickly. It should not contain invented achievements, an autobiography or personal details that the application does not need.

Start with the vacancy, not a template

Save the original job description and identify the required work, skills, qualifications, location and application instructions. Separate required criteria from preferred ones. Your CV should make the strongest truthful matches easy to find, using the employer's language where it accurately describes your experience.

Create a private master CV containing all your work, education, projects, volunteering, certifications and achievements. Then make a focused copy for each application. This is safer than rewriting your history from memory and more useful than sending one generic document everywhere.

Use a clear CV structure

For many non-academic applications, a reverse-chronological structure is easy to scan:

• Name, city, professional email and working phone number.
• A short professional summary matched to the target role.
• Relevant experience, newest first.
• Education and role-relevant training.
• Skills you can demonstrate with evidence.
• Optional projects, volunteering or professional memberships when relevant.

Use plain section headings and consistent dates. A recruiter should be able to distinguish employer, role, period and outcome without decoding decorative columns. Academic, research and specialist applications may need a longer curriculum vitae, so follow the vacancy's requested format instead of forcing every career into one length rule.

Write evidence, not a list of duties

Begin each experience bullet with the action you took, then show the problem, scale or result when you can verify it. “Prepared weekly inventory reports for three branches” is more informative than “responsible for reports.” Numbers help only when they are true and understandable. Do not add percentages you cannot reproduce or claim sole credit for a team result.

Early-career applicants can use internships, NYSC work, school projects, volunteering, student leadership and paid informal work. Explain what you did and what changed. Experience does not become credible merely because it happened in a large company.

Protect your personal information

The Nigeria Data Protection Commission explains that personal-data processing includes collection, storage, use and disclosure. Include only what the application needs. Do not place a NIN, BVN, bank details, passport scan, full home address or identity-document number on a general CV. Share additional documents only when the recipient and purpose have been independently verified.

References do not need to appear unless the employer requests them. Ask a referee before sharing their contact details. A photograph, date of birth, marital status, religion or state of origin should not be included by habit; respond to a legitimate, clearly explained application requirement rather than volunteering sensitive data.

Check the final file

Follow the employer's requested file type and naming convention. If no format is specified, choose a clean format that preserves the document and can be opened on another device. Open the exported file yourself and check page breaks, links, symbols and selectable text. Use a professional filename such as Ada-Okafor-CV.pdf rather than final-cv-new-2.pdf.

Proofread names, dates, phone numbers and tense. Ask a trusted reviewer to compare the CV with the vacancy, but keep control of every claim. A polished false statement is still false.

Use this final CV check

1. Does the first half show why you fit this role?
2. Does every important claim have evidence you can discuss?
3. Are dates, titles and qualifications accurate?
4. Have you removed unnecessary personal data?
5. Does the file reopen and read cleanly on mobile and desktop?
6. Have you followed every application instruction?

Your CV cannot guarantee an interview. It can make a truthful match easier to evaluate and give you a reliable record to use in the interview that follows.