I used to have my CV on Canva.
I would spend hours aligning blocks, changing colors, adding elements and making tiny adjustments. It was like overusing Notion or sitting down at the office just to create to-dos instead of actually doing the work.
That was my CV story too. I was trying to attract attention with the wrong tool.
Especially at the beginning of my career, I couldn’t fill the gaps in my experience. So I tried to make myself more noticeable by having a really “nice-looking CV.”
It took me years to realize that, instead of spending those hours in Canva, I should have spent them building projects.
The best way to fill a gap in your experience is to get the experience you’re missing.
Sounds obvious, right?
That is why a good old one-column CV—with clear sections, precise language and a structure recruiters can quickly understand—will usually do more for you than fancy layouts and colors.
Build visible proof
If you have just finished university or want to change careers, one of the quickest ways to fill an experience gap is through open-source or independently published work.
Build something people can see: contribute to an open-source project, publish a newsletter, link to a website you made or record a video of something you built.
Visible work is powerful evidence for recruiters. It can also prove to you—and to anyone else—that you have the skill a role requires.
You do not need permission from an employer to start gaining relevant experience.
Show the right experience for each role
That is where Applai comes in.
We encourage you to add all your projects and past work experience to your candidate profile. Applai can then select the most relevant evidence for each role and use it to create a clear, one-column CV tailored to that application.
The goal is not to invent a different version of you for every job. It is to make the most relevant parts of your real experience easy to see.
Applying for jobs is not the same as it was 20 years ago. In a world where almost anyone can apply to almost anything, you need to stand out for the right reasons.
Do not decorate over an experience gap. Build proof, then make that proof impossible to miss.
We are here to help.