The Career Snapshot: Are You Still the Person Your CV Describes?

19 August is World Photography Day, so taking a career “snapshot” seems rather fitting for this week's article. 📸

Photography has a wonderful way of freezing a moment in time. One click captures where we were, what we looked like, who we were with and, occasionally, a truly unfortunate hairstyle.

But a photograph is only ever a snapshot.

It doesn't tell you what happened five minutes before the shutter clicked. It can't predict where you'll be five years later. And it certainly doesn't capture all the versions of yourself that are still developing.

Your CV is much the same.

It is a snapshot of your professional life. But here's the slightly uncomfortable question:

Is it still a snapshot of you?

Or are you walking around with a professional photograph that was taken several career chapters ago? 🧐

TIME TO CHECK THE FOCUS.

Most of us update our CV when we need it.

New job? Update it.

Promotion? Add it.

Redundancy? Panic-edit it at 11.47pm while drinking tea and questioning every career decision you've ever made.

But we rarely stop and ask whether the picture itself is still in focus. Your career evolves. Your skills evolve. Your priorities evolve. Your confidence evolves. And sometimes your definition of career success evolves too. Yet your CV can remain stubbornly fixed in the past.

Perhaps it still describes you as an administrator when you've spent the last five years leading projects.

Perhaps it focuses heavily on technical skills you haven't used for years.

Perhaps it tells everyone you're “ambitious and driven” when what you actually want now is meaningful work, flexibility and a life that doesn't revolve around your Outlook calendar.

That's not a CV problem.

That's a career identity problem.

WHAT EXACTLY IS YOUR CV SUPPOSED TO CAPTURE?

A CV isn't your entire career album.

It doesn't need every job you've ever had, every course you've attended or every responsibility you've ever survived.

Get Recruited's UK CV guide, published in May 2025, recommends focusing on relevant experience, using a strong professional summary and demonstrating achievements rather than simply listing duties.

Think of your CV as choosing the best photographs for an exhibition. You wouldn't put 147 virtually identical pictures of your dog on the wall. You would select the images that tell the story. Your CV should do exactly that.

It should show:

• Where you've developed your expertise.

• What you can do now.

• What you've achieved.

• What makes you valuable.

• Where you want your career to go next.

The crucial bit is that last one.

Your CV shouldn't simply document where you've been. It should help frame where you're going.

ARE YOU USING THE RIGHT LENS?

Imagine trying to photograph a landscape with a macro lens. Technically, you are taking a photograph. But you're probably not going to capture the view you intended. The same thing happens with careers. We sometimes use the wrong lens when looking at our own experience.

You might describe yourself through your job title.

“I’m an HR Manager.”

“I’m an administrator.”

“I’m a project manager.”

“I’m a teacher.”

But your job title is only one lens. Try zooming out. What do you actually do exceptionally well?

Perhaps you're the person who walks into chaotic situations and creates order. Perhaps you build relationships quickly. Perhaps you can translate complicated information into something humans can understand. Perhaps you see problems before everyone else does.Perhaps you're brilliant at joining the dots between people, processes and strategy.

Those are capabilities. And capabilities travel. They can follow you into a new role, industry or career.

THE PROFESSIONAL PHOTO THAT HASN'T BEEN UPDATED

Here's a quick test. Open your current CV and read it as though you are a recruiter who has never met you.

Now ask:

Does this document describe the person I am today?

Highlight everything that still feels completely accurate. Put a circle around anything that is technically true but no longer represents your strongest skills. Then put a big cross through anything that makes you think: “Good grief. That was a long time ago.” That is your outdated photograph. Don't be afraid to crop it. Cropping isn't lying. It's choosing what deserves to be in the frame.

YOUR PERSONAL PROFILE IS THE HEADSHOT

The opening profile on your CV is effectively your professional headshot.

It gives the reader their first impression of you.

So please resist the temptation to fill it with:

“Hard-working, enthusiastic, motivated individual with excellent communication skills who works well independently and as part of a team.”

We've all seen it.

Recruiters have probably seen it approximately 9,000 times.

MyPerfectCV's current guidance recommends making the CV profile concise, relevant and tailored to the role, highlighting key strengths, experience and career goals rather than relying on vague descriptions.

In photographic terms, you want a sharp portrait, not a blurry group photograph where nobody knows who they're looking at.

Instead of saying: “Excellent attention to detail.” Show it. “Identified recurring errors across three reporting systems and redesigned the checking process, reducing manual corrections.” Now you've provided evidence. You've moved from filter to fact.

NEURODIVERGENT? DON'T TRY TO PHOTOSHOP YOURSELF

This is particularly important for neurodivergent professionals.

Traditional CV advice can sometimes feel like a long list of instructions about how you're supposed to communicate, organise information and present yourself.

But your CV does not need to make you appear neurotypical. It needs to make your strengths visible.

The CV Store's guide for neurodivergent candidates highlights the value of identifying strengths associated with your particular way of thinking, such as pattern recognition, hyperfocus and creative problem-solving, and then demonstrating how those strengths have created real-world value.

That's a much more useful approach than simply writing:

“Strong analytical skills.”

For example:

“Identified patterns in customer complaints that revealed a previously unnoticed process issue.”

Or:

“Used sustained focus to redesign a complex reporting process, reducing monthly administration time.”

That's your professional photograph with the contrast turned up.

And importantly, you don't have to disclose neurodivergence on your CV unless you want to. There isn't a universal right answer. You might choose to disclose because you want reasonable adjustments or because you value working for an organisation that genuinely embraces neurodiversity. Or you might prefer to discuss it later in the recruitment process. Your neurodivergence is not something you need to justify.

Your strengths are what you want the camera pointed towards.

CHECK YOUR EXPOSURE

Photography has exposure. Careers do too. Sometimes we underexpose ourselves.

We minimise achievements.

We say:

“Oh, it was just part of my job.”

“I only helped.”

“I was lucky.”

“I suppose anyone could have done it.”

If you solved a problem, improved something, led something, rescued something, built something or helped people through something difficult, that counts.

Equally, some of us overexpose ourselves. Every skill becomes “exceptional”. Every task becomes “strategic”. Every meeting becomes “stakeholder engagement”.

Suddenly your CV looks like it has been left under the studio lights for three hours. ☀️

Aim for accurate exposure. Confident, but evidenced.

THE FILTER PROBLEM

Instagram has taught us that filters can make almost anything look polished. Careers have filters too. Job titles can sound impressive. Corporate language can make ordinary tasks sound extraordinary. And CVs can become so polished that the actual human being disappears.

Don't filter yourself into blandness.

If you're curious, say so.

If you're analytical, demonstrate it.

If you care deeply about people, show the impact that has had.

If you're changing direction, own it.

If your career has taken an unconventional route, don't apologise for the plot.

Sometimes the most interesting photograph is the one that doesn't look like everyone else's.

CHANGE YOUR PERSPECTIVE

Photographers move.

They change angles.

They crouch down.

They step backwards.

They zoom in.

They zoom out.

They wait.

Career reflection needs the same flexibility.

If your current role feels wrong, don't immediately assume the answer is “I need a completely new career”.

Zoom in.

What specifically isn't working?

The culture?

The manager?

The hours?

The workload?

The subject matter?

The lack of progression?

Then zoom out.

What is working?

What skills are you using?

What gives you energy?

What matters to you now?

Sometimes the problem isn't the whole picture. It's simply the angle.

THE FIVE-MINUTE CAREER SNAPSHOT

Here's a quick exercise you can do with a cuppa. ☕

Set a timer for five minutes and answer these questions without overthinking them:

• What are three things I'm exceptionally good at now?

• What are three achievements I'm genuinely proud of?

• What are three skills I want to use more often?

• What are three things I never want to do again?

• What are three words describing the professional I'm becoming?

That last question is an interesting one. Because perhaps your old career photograph says:

“Ambitious. Driven. Commercially focused.”

But your current picture says:

“Strategic. Purposeful. People-centred.”

That isn't failure. It's development. You have changed the composition.

YOUR CAREER IS STILL DEVELOPING

Photography captures a moment. It doesn't capture the entire story. Neither does your CV. You are not the person your CV describes.You are the person who has lived everything that happened after that CV was written too.

You have learned.

You have changed.

You've probably survived a few things you never expected to encounter.

You've acquired skills you didn't realise you were acquiring.

And perhaps you've discovered that what you wanted at 30 isn't what you want at 40, 50 or beyond.

Good.

That's called being a human being rather than a filing cabinet. 📸

So take another photograph. This time, don't use the old lens. 

Look at yourself as you are today.

Check the focus.

Change the angle.

Crop what no longer matters.

Bring your strengths into the light.

And then ask the question that really matters:

What do I want the next photograph to look like?

A GENTLE NEXT STEP

If your CV feels like a photograph of someone you used to be, perhaps the answer isn't simply another CV makeover.

Perhaps you need some space to work out who you are professionally now, what you want next and which parts of your career story are worth bringing into focus.

That's where career coaching can help.

At Pause And Empower, I create space to pause, reflect and work out what comes next, without assuming that your next career move has to look anything like your last one.

So, this World Photography Day, take your career snapshot. You might discover that the picture is rather more interesting than you thought. 📸✨

#pauseandempower #careerdevelopment #careerchange #cvwriting #neurodiversity