Content Writer CV Example in 2026 [Free Checklist]

Your profile should answer three questions quickly: what you write, who you write for, and what makes your work useful. Keep it to four or five lines. Avoid broad phrases such as “creative writer with a passion for content”. They sound like filler because they could fit almost any writer.

A sharper profile might say: “Content writer with five years of experience writing SEO articles, SaaS landing pages, and customer stories for B2B technology brands. Strong at turning product input and customer interviews into clear copy that supports search visibility, lead quality, and brand consistency.”

That works because it gives a recruiter a clear hiring target. It says the candidate can write for SaaS, manage subject-matter input, and connect writing to commercial or audience goals. Your version should be equally specific. Mention the formats you want more of, not every format you have ever touched.

If you are early in your career, use the profile to show direction and evidence. A junior content writer can mention internships, coursework, blog work, volunteer writing, or a small portfolio, as long as the examples prove useful habits: research, editing, deadlines, audience awareness, and willingness to learn a house style.

If you are senior, show judgement and ownership. Mention editorial strategy, content systems, mentoring, performance reviews, stakeholder management, or larger publishing programmes. Senior content writer CVs should still show craft, but they also need to prove that you can set standards and help other people publish better work.

For content roles, the portfolio link can be as important as the experience section. Place it near your contact details or in a short “Portfolio” line under the profile. Use a clean URL if possible. A personal site, selected Google Drive folder, Contently-style portfolio, Notion page, or LinkedIn featured section can work if it is tidy and accessible.

Curate the portfolio around the roles you want. Five relevant pieces are better than twenty unrelated samples. Include a short note for each piece if the context is not obvious: the brief, audience, your role, whether you wrote from scratch or edited, and any measurable outcome. This helps employers judge the work fairly, especially if the published version has been edited by others since you delivered it.

Do not include confidential documents, client information, unpublished briefs, or anything that breaches an agreement. If you cannot share the full piece, describe the work in your CV instead: “Ghost-wrote executive thought-leadership articles for a fintech leadership team, adapting SME interviews into publishable drafts under a regulated approval process.” That still proves useful experience without exposing private material.

Your work experience section should not read like a job description. It should show what you actually wrote, how you produced it, and what changed because of your work. Put your most relevant role first, then use three to six bullets for each position.

Each bullet should carry one clear idea. A hiring manager scanning your CV should be able to see the difference between research, drafting, editing, SEO, content planning, and stakeholder work. If every bullet starts with “wrote”, the section feels flat. Vary the action: researched, interviewed, refreshed, edited, structured, briefed, optimised, collaborated, maintained, published, analysed.

Strong examples include:

• Researched and wrote long-form guides for HR software buyers, combining keyword analysis, SME interviews, and competitor-gap notes to improve organic entrances to priority pages.
• Edited product-led articles for clarity and brand voice, reducing final review comments from senior stakeholders and helping the team keep a weekly publishing rhythm.
• Refreshed outdated help-centre content by simplifying headings, removing duplicate copy, and adding internal links so users could reach key answers faster.
• Turned customer interviews into case studies that gave sales teams clearer proof points for enterprise prospects.
• Built reusable article briefs covering search intent, reader questions, internal links, source notes, and conversion goals.

Notice that these bullets do not all depend on a percentage. They still show value because they explain what the writing improved. If you do have numbers, use them carefully: organic sessions, click-through rate, engagement time, assisted conversions, newsletter sign-ups, content production volume, review-cycle time, or ranking improvements can all be useful. Avoid vanity metrics unless you explain why they mattered.

Many content writer roles now expect SEO awareness, but a good CV should not reduce writing to keywords. Show that you understand search intent, useful structure, internal links, metadata, freshness, and reader satisfaction. Employers want writers who can serve both users and search engines without producing thin, repetitive copy.

A strong SEO content bullet might say: “Planned and wrote search-led guides from keyword research and customer questions, then reviewed Search Console data to prioritise updates where rankings had stalled.” This sounds more credible than “wrote SEO blogs” because it shows the process before and after publication.

If you use tools, name the ones you genuinely know: Google Search Console, Google Analytics, Semrush, Ahrefs, Screaming Frog, Clearscope, Surfer, WordPress, HubSpot, Webflow, Sanity, Contentful, Jira, Trello, Asana, Figma, or Grammarly. Do not create a long software list unless the tools matter to the job. Group them by purpose if the list is long.

Make room for people-first content skills too. Good SEO writing still needs expertise, source checking, helpful examples, and a clear answer to the reader’s task. Your CV can show this through phrases such as “SME interviews”, “source-led research”, “reader-first briefs”, “content refreshes”, “topic clustering”, and “clearer page structure”.

Content writers are rarely judged only on first drafts. Employers care about whether you can take feedback, improve copy, meet a style guide, and publish work with fewer errors. If you have editing responsibilities, give them proper space.

You might include bullets such as: “Edited contributor drafts against the brand style guide, improving clarity, structure, and consistency before legal and product review.” Another option is: “Created a proofreading checklist for landing pages, covering claims, links, headings, calls to action, and accessibility basics before publication.”

Editing evidence is especially valuable if you want roles in regulated sectors, technical markets, healthcare, finance, education, SaaS, or public-sector content. In those settings, accuracy and sign-off discipline can matter as much as tone.

Many content teams now use AI tools for ideation, outlining, research support, repurposing, or draft acceleration. You do not need to make AI the centre of the CV, but you should be honest if the role asks for it. The safest approach is to show editorial control.

A good line is: “Used AI-assisted workflows to generate brief options and content variants, then fact-checked, edited, and rewrote outputs against brand voice and source material before publication.” This tells the employer you understand efficiency without handing judgement to a tool.

Avoid claims that make your writing look automated or careless. Do not say you “produced 100 AI articles a week” unless that is genuinely the role you want and the quality bar was strong. For most content writer applications, the better signal is your ability to use tools responsibly while protecting accuracy, voice, and usefulness.

Projects are useful when your job titles do not explain the writing work clearly enough. They are also helpful for freelancers, career changers, graduates, and writers who have worked across several small clients rather than one obvious in-house content role.

Choose two or three projects with different strengths. One might show long-form SEO writing. Another might show interview-led case studies. A third might show a website rewrite, tone-of-voice refresh, email sequence, or knowledge-base update. Keep each project short: name the project, explain the context, then add two bullets that show your role and the result.

A project section should not become a second portfolio. The CV gives the recruiter the headline evidence; the portfolio gives them the full writing samples. Use the project section to bridge the gap between a job title and the work you actually want to be hired to do.

For freelance work, group smaller assignments carefully. A line such as “Freelance Content Writer, 2023 to Present” can work well if the bullets show client types, formats, and outcomes. You do not need to name every client. You can write “B2B software client”, “education provider”, or “wellness retailer” where confidentiality matters. What matters is that the reader can see the level of complexity, your process, and the kind of writing you delivered.

Most content writer roles do not require one exact degree, although English, journalism, marketing, communications, media, languages, or subject-specific degrees can help. If your education is relevant, include it clearly. If your work evidence is stronger, keep education shorter and give more space to experience and portfolio work.

Training can be useful when it supports the role. SEO courses, content strategy certificates, UX writing training, journalism training, proofreading courses, analytics courses, or accessibility learning can all help. Put the most relevant items under “Education and training” or “Professional development”.

Do not list every short course you have taken. A short skills section plus a focused training line is usually cleaner. For example: “Google Analytics 4 fundamentals; SEO content strategy short course; proofreading and editing workshop.”

A content writer CV should prove that you can organise information. Use clear headings, consistent dates, short bullets, and enough white space. Recruiters should not have to dig through dense paragraphs to find your portfolio, formats, tools, and outcomes.

Use reverse chronological order unless you are making a career change and need a short “Selected writing projects” section before employment. Keep the design simple. Creative formatting can work for some brand roles, but readability matters more than decoration.

Use one or two pages, depending on experience. A junior writer can usually fit one page. A mid-level or senior writer often needs two pages, especially with portfolio context, tools, and selected projects. The aim is not to be short at all costs; it is to make the relevant evidence easy to find.