Getting your CV foundations right is one of the most important steps you can take when looking for work in the Netherlands. You open your old document, change your location, add your latest role, and start applying. But then the responses don’t come.
For many expats, this is the moment they realise something might not be translating properly. Not the language, but the expectations.
It’s not just a formatting issue
A lot of people assume the problem is visual. Maybe the font is wrong, or the layout looks outdated. So, they download a template, rearrange a few sections, and try again.
Sometimes that helps. But more often, the real issue goes deeper than design.
Every country has its own unwritten rules around CVs. What counts as relevant experience, how much personal information to include, whether a photo is expected, how long the document should be. And when you’ve spent years building your career in a different system, it’s easy to carry those habits over without noticing.
The Dutch job market has its own expectations. And understanding them is the first step to getting your CV foundations working for you here.
A different way of presenting yourself
In the Netherlands, CVs are usually expected to be clear, structured, and direct. Recruiters are not reading every sentence carefully from top to bottom. Most of the time, they’re scanning quickly to understand one thing: does this profile make sense for this role?
That means your CV needs to communicate your direction almost immediately. What do you do? What are you good at?
When you are applying for a specific role, it can also make sense to include what kind of position you are looking for. But if you are still open to different directions, it’s usually better to leave this out. Otherwise, you might be limiting yourself without really meaning to.
And this is where things often go wrong for expats. Not because the experience isn’t strong, but because the direction isn’t immediately clear. Within a few seconds, a recruiter should be able to understand where you fit. If that doesn’t happen, even a strong profile can feel harder to place.
Clarity matters more than completeness
One of the biggest mistakes people make is trying to include everything. Every internship. Every project. Every side task. Every industry.
It feels better and safer to show more. Like leaving something out means you’re hiding it, or that a recruiter might think you have less experience than you do. But in reality, too much information often hides the most important parts of your profile.
Think of it this way. If a recruiter has thirty seconds to scan your CV, so what do you want them to walk away knowing about you? That one thing, or ideally two or three things, should be immediately obvious.
A strong CV is selective
It focuses on what is relevant for the role you are applying for now and not your entire career history. Your CV is not meant to tell your whole life story. It is meant to quickly position you as a strong match for a job!
You probably want credit for everything you’ve done. That’s understandable. But a CV isn’t a full record of your career, that’s what a LinkedIn profile is for. Your CV foundations should act as a focused pitch, and the more targeted it is, the more effective it becomes.
Things like your location, spoken languages, availability, work authorisation, or notice period are often checked immediately by recruiters. Making them easy to find removes unnecessary uncertainty right away and keeps your application moving forward.
When your background doesn’t fit into a box
You’ve worked across different countries, maybe in different industries, or in roles that don’t have a direct equivalent here. Your career makes sense to you, but on paper, it can look scattered to someone who doesn’t have that context.
Dutch recruiters are generally practical. They’re not going to read between the lines or assume connections that aren’t spelled out. If your international experience is relevant, you need to make that explicit. Don’t assume they’ll know what a particular job title means in your home country, or that they’ll recognise a company that wasn’t active in the Dutch market.
Getting your CV foundations right means making that context visible from the start. We’ll cover exactly how to write that opening summary in a later blog in this series.
It also helps to be specific about the kind of environment you’ve worked in. International teams, multilingual settings, cross-border projects all these are things that stand out in the Dutch market, especially for companies that work with international clients or operate across Europe. If that’s part of your background, don’t leave it buried in a job description. Make it visible.
Where to start
If you’re not sure where to begin, start with the role you want. Read a few job descriptions that interest you. Notice what keeps coming up, like for example the skills, the experience, the kind of background they’re looking for. Then look at your own CV and ask honestly: does this reflect that?
If the answer is no, that’s useful information. It doesn’t mean your experience is wrong. It might just mean the way it’s presented isn’t connecting yet. This is the foundation. Getting your CV foundations right here makes everything else (the applications, the responses, the conversations with recruiters) easier!
At the end of the day, your CV is not just a summary of your past experience. It is a tool that helps shape your future opportunities.
Next up: first impressions matter more than you think
Now that the CV foundations are clear, the next step is making sure recruiters keep reading. In our next blog, we’ll talk about first impressions and the small mistakes that can instantly affect how professional your CV feels.
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