American-Style CV — What to Change, How to Write for US Recruiters

Introduction

Polish CVs and American "resumes" look completely different. Sending a Polish CV to an American recruiter = automatic trash. It needs to be converted.

Key Differences

Structure of an American Resume

1. Header (top)

• First name + last name (large font)
• City, state (e.g. "Brooklyn, NY")
• US phone number
• Email (professional, NOT "kowalski123@gmail.com" — better "jan.kowalski@gmail.com")
• LinkedIn URL
• (Optional) Portfolio/GitHub for tech/creative fields

2. Professional Summary (3-4 sentences)

• Briefly: who you are + how many years of experience + key skills + what value you bring
• Example: "Senior software engineer with 8 years of experience building scalable backend systems. Expert in Python, AWS, and microservices. Reduced API latency 60% at previous role."

3. Work Experience (reverse chronological)

• Position, company, city/state, dates (Month/Year - Month/Year)
• 3-5 bullet points under each — achievements, NOT responsibilities
• Bad format: "Responsible for managing team"
• Good format: "Managed cross-functional team of 8 engineers, delivering 3 major releases on schedule"
• Best: "Led team of 8 to deliver feature X, reducing customer churn by 23% and generating $2M ARR"

4. Education

• Degree, field, university, city/country, year of graduation
• Polish titles: "Magister Inżynier" → "Master of Engineering" or "Master's degree in [field]"
• GPA only if excellent (3.5+/4.0)
• No averages in the Polish system — convert to 4.0

5. Skills

• List of technologies, programming languages, tools
• Keywords = ATS-friendly (see below)
• No "MS Office" if it's for a technical CV — that's obvious

6. Certifications (optional)

• AWS Certified Solutions Architect
• PMP, Scrum Master
• Industry certifications

7. Languages

• Polish (Native), English (Fluent), German (Conversational)
• Format: language + level (Native, Fluent, Conversational, Basic)

ATS — Applicant Tracking System

• 80% of large companies use ATS — automatic screening
• It uploads your resume to a database and searches for keywords from the job posting
• If there's not enough match — the resume doesn't reach the recruiter

How to Get Through ATS

• Copy keywords from the job posting (usually 5-10) and weave them into your resume
• Use standard job titles ("Software Engineer", not "Code Ninja")
• File: .docx or PDF (both accepted)
• Font: Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman (NOT designer fonts)
• No tables, columns, graphics, photos — ATS gets confused
• Standard headers: "Work Experience", "Education", "Skills" (NOT "My Journey")

Action Verbs

• Led, Managed, Built, Designed, Implemented, Launched
• Increased, Reduced, Optimized, Streamlined
• Achieved, Delivered, Exceeded
• Created, Developed, Engineered
• Avoid: Responsible for, Worked on, Helped with

Numbers = Credibility

• "Increased sales" → "Increased sales by 35% over 12 months ($450k → $610k ARR)"
• "Managed a team" → "Led team of 12 across 3 time zones"
• "Implemented a system" → "Deployed monitoring system covering 200+ services, reducing MTTR by 40%"

Cover Letter

• Required in 60-70% of applications (smaller companies, some industries)
• Short (3-4 paragraphs, max 1 page)
• Personalize: recruiter's name or hiring manager, company name
• DO NOT repeat the resume — show why YOU and this COMPANY

LinkedIn — Concurrently

• 90% of recruiters check LinkedIn
• Headline: role + technologies ("Senior Backend Engineer | Python, AWS, Microservices")
• "About" section — extended version of Professional Summary
• Enable "Open to Work" (visible only to recruiters)
• Professional photo — YES on LinkedIn (YES), NO in resume (NO)

Common Mistakes by Poles

• Photo in resume — immediate minus
• Personal data — date of birth, marital status = anti-discrimination law
• "Responsible for" everywhere — passive, weak
• Lack of numbers — unconvincing
• Too long — 1 page for entry-mid; 2 max for senior
• Polish address — shows that you are not in the USA
• Polish email with strange numbers — looks unprofessional
• 1:1 translation of Polish titles — "Specjalista ds. analiz" → "Analyst", not "Specialist for Analyses"