CV for tenders: how to tailor your consultant CV to the requirements

When a client evaluates consultant CVs in a tender, they look for one thing: evidence that this particular person has solved this particular type of task before. A generic CV describing everything you can do scores lower than a targeted CV that answers the requirements in the tender documents directly.

Start with the requirements, not the CV

Print the list of requirements from the tender documents and use it as a checklist for the CV. Every evaluated requirement should have a clear counterpart in the CV: a project, a role, a certification or a measurable result. The order of the CV should mirror what is weighted most in the evaluation.

• Pick 3–5 projects that document the most important requirements – leave out the rest
• Use the client's terminology: if the requirement says “project control”, the CV should say “project control”
• Describe results with numbers where possible: budget, number of users, time saved
• State role, client, period and scope for every project – without these, the project earns no points

Quality over quantity

Evaluators skim. A ten-page CV with everything you have done makes the relevant projects harder to find. Two pages with four well-described, relevant projects beat eight pages of everything you have touched. Less relevant projects can be summarised in one line under “Other experience”.

The summary at the top is the first thing the evaluator reads. Rewrite it for every tender: two to four sentences linking your experience directly to the assignment.

Language and the client's reality

For Norwegian public procurement you deliver in Norwegian. For international clients you deliver in English – with Norwegian institution names explained. With an experience bank that stores both languages, you avoid translating under deadline pressure.

Want to try it yourself? Add your projects to the experience bank once, and pick the right ones for each tender – in minutes instead of hours.