How to write a successful CV
How to write a veterinary CV that gets noticed
Writing a CV can feel difficult, especially when your day-to-day work covers far more than a job title can explain. Whether you are a veterinary surgeon, registered veterinary nurse, new graduate or experienced locum, your CV should help a practice understand what you have done, what you do well and what sort of role you are looking for next.
You do not need elaborate design or a long list of every task you have ever performed. A strong veterinary CV is clear, accurate and relevant to the job. It gives an employer enough detail to see where you could fit into their team and enough confidence to invite you for a conversation.
Start with the role you want
Before editing your CV, read the job advert carefully. Look beyond the title and salary. Is the practice looking for someone comfortable with sole charge? Does the role involve weekends, out-of-hours work, surgery, nurse consultations, inpatient care or a particular species? Is there an opportunity to develop an interest or take on leadership responsibilities?
Highlight the requirements that genuinely match your experience and make those easy to find in your CV. For example, if a role emphasises dentistry and you have developed your skills in this area, say what work you undertake and where you gained that experience. If the practice wants a clinical lead, explain the team, projects or clinical standards you have helped to manage.
Tailoring does not mean rewriting your entire career history for every application. Keep a detailed master CV, then adjust your opening profile, key skills and most relevant experience for each role. Use the words in the advert where they accurately describe your experience, but avoid copying requirements you cannot support with examples.
Make your professional details easy to find
At the top of your CV, include your name, a reliable phone number, a professional email address and your general location. You can add a LinkedIn profile if it is up to date and relevant.
State your professional title and registration status clearly. A practice should not have to search through several pages to find out whether you are an MRCVS, an RVN, awaiting registration or qualified in another country. Include relevant qualifications and any additional certificates or recognised areas of study, using their correct titles.
You do not normally need to include a photograph, your date of birth, marital status or a full home address. Your town or region is usually enough at this stage. If you have particular location preferences or are willing to relocate, you can mention that in your opening profile.
Write a short profile that says something useful
Your opening profile should give an employer a quick, accurate picture of you. Aim to cover your profession, your main area of experience, your strengths and the type of opportunity you want. Specific information is more useful than phrases such as “hardworking team player” or “passionate about animals”.
For example, a veterinary surgeon might write:
Small animal veterinary surgeon with five years’ experience in first-opinion practice. Confident managing a varied medical caseload and routine surgery, with a growing interest in diagnostic imaging. Seeking a supportive practice where I can continue to develop my imaging skills and contribute to clinical decision-making.
A veterinary nurse might write:
Registered veterinary nurse with experience across theatre, anaesthesia and inpatient care in a busy small animal practice. Particularly enjoy supporting student nurses and delivering clear discharge advice to clients. Looking for a role with opportunities to develop nurse-led clinics.
These are examples, not templates to copy. Your own profile should reflect what you can do confidently and what matters to you in your next role.
Describe the practice as well as your job title
List your work history with your most recent role first. For each position, include the practice or employer, your title, location and dates. Then briefly describe the setting and your contribution.
A title such as “Veterinary Surgeon” or “RVN” tells an employer little about your working day. Where relevant, explain whether you worked in a small animal, equine, farm, mixed, referral or emergency setting. You might also mention whether you worked in a single-site practice, a larger hospital, a busy first-opinion team or a role involving sole charge.
Describe the parts of the job that help an employer assess your fit. Depending on your experience, these could include consultations, surgery, anaesthesia, inpatient care, emergency work, client communication, mentoring or practice management. Give more space to your recent and relevant roles. Earlier positions may only need a short summary.
Show what you contributed
A CV becomes more persuasive when it explains what you did within a role, rather than repeating a standard list of duties. Think about cases you managed, responsibilities you took on, improvements you helped introduce and colleagues you supported.
For example, “Responsible for nurse consultations” could become:
Developed regular nurse clinics covering weight management and post-operative checks, providing consistent follow-up for clients and patients.
Or “Assisted with surgery” might become:
Prepared patients and equipment for a varied surgical caseload and monitored anaesthesia, escalating concerns promptly to the operating vet.
Only use examples that accurately reflect your work and level of responsibility. You do not need impressive statistics for every point. Clear, concrete descriptions of your contribution are valuable in their own right.
Be precise about your clinical skills
Employers want to understand what you are comfortable doing now, as well as what you would like to learn. Grouping relevant skills together can make your CV easier to scan, particularly if you have worked across several practices.
A veterinary surgeon might describe their confidence with consultations, routine or more advanced procedures, imaging, dentistry, emergency cases or sole charge. A veterinary nurse might highlight anaesthesia, theatre, inpatient care, nurse clinics, laboratory work or supporting students.
Be careful with broad claims. “Experienced in surgery” could mean very different things to different people. If a skill matters to the role, explain it more precisely. It is equally reasonable to say that you have some experience in an area but would welcome further support. An honest description helps a practice offer the right role and working environment.
Include qualifications and relevant CPD
List your veterinary or veterinary nursing qualifications, along with other training that supports the roles you are seeking. If you hold a certificate or have developed a particular clinical interest, make it visible rather than burying it beneath older education details.
You do not need to list every webinar or course you have attended. Select CPD that is recent, substantial or relevant to the role. You can briefly explain how you have applied it: for example, further training in dental radiography followed by greater involvement in dental cases.
If you are early in your career, education, placements and structured training may deserve more space. As your experience grows, your recent clinical work will usually become the stronger evidence, with your qualifications presented more briefly.
Adapt your CV if you are a new graduate
A new graduate is not expected to have the same experience as someone who has spent years in practice. Concentrate on what you have learned, the clinical environments you have experienced and how you approach cases when you need support.
Include relevant placements, EMS or veterinary nursing training placements, along with examples of communication, teamwork and practical skills. Be clear about the areas in which you are building confidence. If you are applying to a graduate programme, explain what kind of mentoring and development will help you progress.
Avoid describing yourself as confident in procedures you have only observed or performed a few times under close supervision. A practice looking to support a new graduate will value a realistic assessment of your starting point.
Adapt your CV if you work as a locum
A locum CV needs to show a practice how quickly you could settle into an assignment. Make your recent experience, clinical strengths and preferred type of work easy to find. If you are comfortable with sole charge, particular species, out-of-hours shifts or specific procedures, say so accurately.
If you have completed many short bookings, you do not need a long entry for every practice. You can group similar assignments together and describe the range of settings in which you have worked. Give individual attention to longer placements or assignments that demonstrate a relevant skill.
Availability changes frequently, so check that any dates on your CV are current. You can also provide availability separately when discussing a booking. Where an assignment has specific requirements, your recruiter can help identify the details a practice will need before offering you work.
Keep it clear without cutting useful information
Two pages is a useful aim for many CVs, but it is not a rule. A new graduate may need less space, while an experienced vet or nurse with substantial clinical, leadership or specialist experience may need more. The test is whether every section helps an employer assess you for the role.
Use a straightforward layout, clear headings and short bullet points. Keep fonts and date formats consistent. Avoid dense paragraphs, complicated graphics and large blocks of colour that make the document harder to read. Save or send it in the format requested by the employer or recruiter; a PDF is useful for preserving layout when no particular format is specified.
Put your strongest evidence near the beginning. If a qualification, clinical interest or type of experience is central to the role, do not leave it until the final page.
Be honest about your experience
Your CV should give an accurate account of your qualifications, registration, employment dates and clinical capabilities. Do not imply that you have independently performed procedures you have only assisted with, or claim a qualification that is still in progress.
Honesty also allows a practice to assess what support you may need. Saying that you want to develop your surgical confidence, for example, is more useful than presenting yourself as comfortable with every procedure and finding yourself in an unsuitable role.
You do not need to explain every career break in detail. If there is a gap that an employer is likely to notice, a brief, straightforward explanation is usually enough. You can discuss anything more personal at a stage and in a way that feels appropriate to you.
Check the final version before sending it
Read your CV once for content and once for errors. Check that your contact details work, dates make sense, qualifications are named correctly and your most recent role is up to date. Ask someone else to read it if possible: another person may spot unclear wording or a mistake you have stopped noticing.
Finally, read the job advert again. Could someone looking only at your CV see why you meet its most important requirements? If the answer is no, move the relevant evidence higher or explain it more clearly.
A successful veterinary CV does not need to make you sound like every other candidate. It should give a practice a clear and trustworthy picture of your experience, your strengths and the role in which you are most likely to thrive.