Practical guides

Your CV, your pay and your rights, with a clear method

Short guides, written to be useful before an application, an interview, a pay rise request or the end of a contract. The only figures they contain are calculated by the site or quoted from an official source.

CV and applications

Write, proofread and lay out a CV that gets past the ATS robots and convinces a human reader.

01Your CV and ATS robotsBefore it reaches a recruiter's eyes, your CV often goes through software. What it reads, what trips it up, and how to write a CV it files correctly.
02CV keywordsRecruiters and their software search for specific words. How to spot them in a job ad and put them where they count, without keyword stuffing.
03Raising your CV's valueA CV that lists tasks reads like a job description. A CV that shows results makes employers want to pay more. The method for rewriting every line.
04Career-change CVChanging careers doesn't mean erasing your background: it means translating it. How to present your experience for the job you're aiming for, and estimate what you'll earn there.
05CV headline and personal statementThe headline and the three lines under your name often decide whether the rest gets read. How to write them, with examples for your situation.
06Canva CVs and ATS robotsCanva templates look great, but screening software can't always read them. What goes wrong, how to check, and how to keep your design without getting filtered out.
07Photo on a CVIt is never compulsory in France. Here is when it helps, when it hurts, and how to take a good one with nothing more than your phone.
08CV with no experienceInternships, summer jobs, volunteering, projects, civic service: you have more to show than you think. The structure, the headline, and before/after lines.
09Student CVYou are still studying and looking for an internship, a work-study contract or a side job: what your course already gives you, the sections, the length, the traps.
10First-job CVDegree in hand, your CV changes job: it no longer tells the story of your studies, it applies for a role. Headline, internships, final-year project, starting salary.
11Gap in your CVUnemployment, illness, children, travel, retraining, a business that didn't work out: each gap can be presented in one honest line. On the CV, then at interview.
12CV after 50A long career on one readable page: the last ten years in detail, the rest condensed, the tools you use today, and not a single cliché.
13CV headlineThe line under your name is the first one a recruiter and their software read. How to pick the exact job title and the right level, and what to write when your situation doesn't fit the mould.
14CV skillsTools and know-how go in a list; personal qualities need proof. How to fill the section, give a language level that actually means something, and what a screening robot reads.
15Interests on a CVAn optional section, often stuffed with empty words. When it genuinely helps, how to write a line that makes people want to ask about it, and what you never have to disclose.
16One-page CVOne page is enough for most applications, as long as you cut in the right places. Who can stretch to two, the order to cut in, and why shrinking the font is a false economy.
17CV section orderWhatever the recruiter reads first should prove you can do the job. The standard order, how to vary it as a beginner, a career changer or an old hand, and the headings robots recognise.
18Updating your CVHasn't your CV changed since your last job move? One hour, a section-by-section checklist, the lines to rewrite, the ones to drop, and how to do it even without the original file.
19CV for jobs abroadPhoto, age, length, references, date formats: a CV is not read the same way in London, Berlin, Geneva, Montreal or New York. What changes, country by country, and how to translate your career.
20Proofreading your CVA typo gets noticed before your experience does. The checklist to run before every application, the tricks for spotting what you no longer see, and what the site's AI fixes, or doesn't.
21Word or PDF CVA PDF locks your layout; a Word file can be reworked. Which one to send, when, under what file name, and the traps that make a file unreadable to screening robots.
22CV layoutHierarchy, white space, one typeface, clean alignment: the rules of a page that reads at a glance, what ATS robots do with columns, and how the site fixes uneven spacing.
23CV action verbsLead, design, sell, analyse, organise, train: verbs grouped by family, in English and French, before-and-after lines, and the phrases to ban from your CV for good.
24Manager's CVA recruiter hiring a cadre looks for your scope, your results and the way you lead a team. How to write all three with your own figures, plus the profile, length and confidentiality.
25Work-study CVOn a work-study contract, your CV has two readers: the company that hires you and the school that trains you. The rhythm, the dates, your training plan, and lines to reuse.
26Internship CVFor an internship, nobody expects a job title: they want a course, dates and a willingness to learn. What the supervisor reads, the internship agreement, and before/after lines.
27Freelance CVA freelance CV lists assignments, not employers: client, length, deliverable, result. Presenting them, placing your portfolio, your day rate, and moving back to a salaried job.
28Cover letterA cover letter gets read in under a minute: it has to say why them, why you and what you will do together. The structure, sample sentences and the mistakes that get it binned.

Negotiating your salary

Prepare your arguments, answer the salary-expectations question and land the right figure.

Pay, payslips and tax

Understand your payslip, go from gross to net and know what a job offer is really worth.

Contracts, leaving a job and employment law

What the contract and the law say when you sign, when you leave and when you do the sums.

And to put it into practice

The site's features analyse, fix and edit your CV; the tools work out your net pay, employer cost or severance; Nego answers your questions.

These guides give you a method, not legal advice. For amounts, search for your job: the site shows the salaries actually offered in job ads from France Travail (the French public employment service), with their volume, period and source.