How to Write a CV That Gets Shortlisted in Nigeria (With a Free Template)

Recruiters don't read your CV — they scan it

Open most hiring inboxes in Lagos or Abuja and you'll find hundreds of applications for a single role. No recruiter reads them all word for word. They scan each one for a few seconds, looking for reasons to keep you or cut you. Your job is to make the "keep" decision easy in those few seconds.

That's the whole game. Everything below is about surviving the scan and earning a proper read.

1. Open with a summary that actually says something

The top third of page one decides your fate. Don't waste it on an "Objective" that says you want "a challenging role in a reputable organisation." Replace it with a two-or-three-line professional summary that states who you are, your strongest proof, and what you do.

Weak: "A hardworking and dedicated individual seeking a challenging position to utilise my skills." Strong: "Customer support specialist with 4 years in fintech. Cut average response time from 12 hours to 3 and handled a 5,000-ticket monthly queue. Looking to bring that to a remote support team."

The second version gives a recruiter a reason to keep reading in one glance.

2. Turn duties into results

Most Nigerian CVs list responsibilities: "Responsible for managing social media." That tells a recruiter what your job was, not how well you did it. Lead every bullet with an outcome instead:

• "Grew the company's Instagram from 2,000 to 18,000 followers in 8 months."

• "Closed ₦14M in sales in my first year — 120% of target."

• "Trained 6 new hires who all passed probation."

Numbers do the convincing. If you don't have exact figures, estimate honestly — "roughly", "about", a sensible range. A believable number beats a vague claim.

3. Tailor it to the specific job

One generic CV sent to 50 roles performs worse than five tailored CVs. Read the job description and mirror its language. If it asks for "stakeholder management" and you've done exactly that, use those words — not your own synonym. Many larger employers screen with software (an applicant tracking system) that looks for those exact terms, and even human screeners match against the posting.

You don't rewrite the whole CV each time. You adjust the summary, reorder your bullets so the most relevant sit first, and make sure the key skills from the posting appear.

4. Respect length and format

• Length: one page if you have under 7 years' experience, two at most otherwise. Nobody needs five.

• Format: a clean, single-column layout in a standard font. Skip heavy graphics, photos, and colour blocks — they confuse screening software and add nothing.

• File: export as PDF so it looks the same on every device.

5. Cut the things that hurt you

Nigerian CVs are often padded with details that add risk and no value. Remove:

• Date of birth, marital status, state of origin, religion — irrelevant, and they invite bias.

• "References available on request" — assumed; it just wastes a line.

• A wall of adjectives ("hardworking, dedicated, God-fearing, team player"). Show those through results, don't claim them.

• Your full home address. City is enough.

• Every short course you've ever taken. Keep the ones that matter for this role.

6. Proofread like it's the interview

A single typo in the first lines signals carelessness. Read it out loud, run it through a free spellchecker, and have one other person look at it. Save the file with a professional name — Chidi-Okeke-CV.pdf, not cv final final2.pdf.

A simple template you can copy

Use this skeleton and fill in your own details:

FULL NAME
City · Phone · Email · LinkedIn/portfolio link

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY
2-3 lines: who you are, your best result, what you're looking for.

EXPERIENCE
Job Title — Company (Month Year – Month Year)
- Result-led bullet with a number
- Result-led bullet with a number
- Result-led bullet with a number

EDUCATION
Degree — Institution (Year)

SKILLS
The 6-10 skills most relevant to the role you want

CERTIFICATIONS (optional)
Only the ones that matter

Then put it to work

A sharp CV only matters if it's in front of real opportunities. Once yours is ready, browse current roles on Segwae and start applying with a version tailored to each one.