MY CV RULES

How do you craft a CV that actually gets you hired?

By Jonathan Hunter — Lead of Talent Acquisition, AAA video games. Nearly a decade hiring for major studios. Last updated: [August 2026]

Your CV must be easy to read, explicit about your contributions, and back every claim with facts instead of descriptions. These are the same three rules I apply to every CV I review, whatever the discipline or seniority.

My CV Rules

• Make it easy to read

• Be explicit

• Favour facts over descriptions

Rule 1: Make it easy to read

Recruiters don’t read CVs, they scan them. Within two seconds, they need to know what your role is, evidence of relevant attributes and why you’re relevant to their job. If they can’t find that, they move on.

Use white space. Use bullet points. Bold the keywords that matter (engines, software, hard skills) so they jump off the page during the scan. Your summary should be tailored per job and needs to slap the recruiter in the face with your relevancy!

Rule 2: Be explicit

Never rely on the reader to infer anything. This is the number one reason qualified people get rejected.

‘Environment Artist’ or ‘3D Modelling’ tells a recruiter almost nothing. What did you actually make? On which game? Which part of it? With what software? A recruiter will not guess, and they will not look up your studio to find out what it makes.

The formula I use is: task + tool or technique + product or location + result.

This matters even when you can’t show the work. If a project was cancelled or is under NDA, you can still describe the type of work — stylized, realistic, high-fidelity, co-op, AAA and how you did it (software, techniques etc.).

Rule 3: Favour facts over descriptions

A statement of fact is objective and irrefutable. A description is just your opinion of yourself, and it carries no weight at all.

‘Improved efficiency’ and ‘good team player’ are descriptions. ‘Created a tool that reduced planning time by 80%’ and ‘established daily 15-minute stand-ups between the design and audio departments’ are facts. One of those gets you an interview.

Back up statements with numbers wherever you can: how many assets, how much time saved, how many people you coordinated, how much faster the build ran. Recruiters scan for hard facts & evidence, not adjectives.

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