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CV Writing Guide

What is a CV?

A CV, which stands for curriculum vitae (a Latin phrase meaning ‘course of life’), is a document used when applying for jobs. It allows you to summarise your education, skills and relevant work experience enabling you to successfully sell your abilities to potential employers. Alongside your CV, employers may also ask for a cover letter.

In other countries, such as the USA and Canada, CVs are known as résumés. These documents tend to be more concise and follow no particular formatting rules.

How long should a CV be?

A standard CV in the UK should be no longer than two sides of A4. Take a look at our example of a chronological CV for inspiration.

That said, one size doesn’t fit all. For example, a school leaver or recent graduate with minimal experience may only need to use one side of A4. Although not used as often, a three-page CV might be needed for those in high-level roles or for people who have gained a lot of experience or worked in multiple jobs over the last five to ten years. For example, some medical or academic CVs may be longer depending on your experience. While it’s important to keep your CV concise, you should also avoid selling your experience short.

When writing a CV, save space by only including the main points of your education and experience. Stick to relevant information and don’t repeat what you’ve said in your cover letter. If you’re struggling to edit your CV, ask yourself if certain information sells you. If it doesn’t, cut it out. If it’s not relevant to the job you’re applying for, delete it and if it’s old detail from ten years ago, summarise it.

What should I include in my CV?

  • Contact details – Include your full name, home address, mobile number and email address. Your date of birth is irrelevant and unless you’re applying for an acting or modelling job you don’t need to include a photograph. If you have a professional networking profile, website or online portfolio, link to it within your contact details.
  • Profile – A CV profile is a concise statement that highlights your key attributes and helps you stand out from the crowd. Usually placed at the beginning of a CV, it picks out a few relevant achievements and skills, while expressing your career aims. A good CV profile focuses on the sector you’re applying to, as your cover letter will be job-specific. Discover how to write a personal statement for your CV.
  • Education – List and date all previous education, including professional qualifications. Place the most recent first. Include qualification type/grades, and dates. Mention specific modules only where relevant.
  • Work experience – List your work experience in reverse date order, making sure that anything you mention is relevant to the job you’re applying for. Include your job title, the name of the company, how long you were with the organisation and key responsibilities. If you have plenty of relevant work experience, this section should come before education.
  • Skills and achievements – This is where you talk about the foreign languages you speak and the IT packages you can competently use. The skills you list should be relevant to the job. Don’t exaggerate your abilities, as you’ll need to back up your claims at interview. If you’ve got lots of job-specific skills, you should do a skills-based CV.
  • Interests – ‘Socialising’, ‘going to the cinema’ and ‘reading’ aren’t going to catch a recruiter’s attention. However, relevant interests can provide a more complete picture of who you are, as well as giving you something to talk about at interview. Examples include writing your own blog or community newsletters if you want to be a journalist, being part of a drama group if you’re looking to get into sales and your involvement in climate change activism if you’d like an environmental job. If you don’t have any relevant hobbies or interests, leave this section out.
  • References – You don’t need to provide the names of referees at this stage. You can say ‘references available upon request’ but most employers would assume this to be the case – so if you’re stuck for space, leave this out.

For more help and advice on how to create a CV and to find CV templates, see example CVs.

How do I format a CV?

The layout of your CV also has an effect on its success. Keep in mind the following tips when crafting your CV:

  • Avoid titling the document ‘curriculum vitae’ or ‘CV‘. It’s a waste of space. Instead, let your name serve as the title.
  • Section headings are a good way to break up your CV. Ensure they stand out by making them larger (font size 14 or 16) and bold.
  • Avoid fonts such as Comic Sans. Choose something professional, clear and easy to read such as Arial, Calibri or Times New Roman. Use a font size between 10 and 12 to make sure that potential employers can read your CV. Ensure all fonts and font sizes are consistent throughout.
  • List everything in reverse chronological order. Then the recruiter sees your work history and most recent achievements first.
  • Keep it concise by using bullet points. This type of CV layout allows potential employers to skim your CV and quickly pick out important information first.
  • Double check your margins. Having white space around your CV will make it easier to read and look less cluttered. Aim for 2.5 centimetre margins all the way around. Don’t be tempted to make these smaller to fit more in.
  • Name the document when saving. Don’t just save as ‘Document 1’. Make sure the title of the document is professional and identifies you, such as ‘Joe-Smith-CV’.
  • Save with the correct file extension. Double check what this is by looking at the job advert, application instructions or by contacting the recruiter. Some adverts my state a .PDF file extension while others my ask for .docx.

How do I write a good CV?

  • Use active verbs when possible. For example, include words like ‘created’, ‘analysed’ and ‘devised’ to present yourself as a person who shows initiative.
  • Avoid generic, over-used phrases such as ‘team player’, ‘hardworking’ and ‘multitasker’. Instead, provide real-life examples that demonstrate all of these skills.
  • Tailor your CV. Look at the company’s website and social media accounts. Find out if they’ve recently been mentioned in the local press and use the job advert to make sure your CV is targeted to the role and employer.
  • Create the right type of CV for your circumstances. Decide whether the chronological, skills-based or academic CV is right for you.
  • Make sure your email address sounds professional. If your personal address is inappropriate, create a new account for professional use.
  • Don’t lie or exaggerate on your CV or job application. For example, altering your degree grade from a 2:2 to a 2:1 is classed as degree fraud. Take a look at this advice and guidance on degree fraud for students.
  • If posting your CV online, don’t include your home address, as you could be targeted by fraudsters.
  • Always include a cover letter unless the employer states otherwise. It will enable you to personalise your application. You can draw attention to a particular part of your CV, disclose a disability or clarify gaps in your work history.

How do I navigate gaps in my CV?

Employers understand that candidates have lives and responsibilities beyond the world of work, so don’t automatically assume that a gap in your education or employment history will take you out of the running.

Acknowledging a period of time spent out of education or work is a bit of a balancing act. You need to make the recruiter aware, without going into too much detail (you’ll get the chance to do this in your cover letter – read our example cover letter explaining a gap in your CV.)

Briefly mention (in the appropriate section) the reason for the gap (with dates) – be that a gap year, illness, caring for a relative or redundancy. Rather than going into too much detail, instead list the transferable and relevant skills/qualifications gained during this experience.

You could mention:

  • details of online courses or Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) you’ve undertaken or webinars or online events you’ve attended
  • the acquisition of new skills, such as learning a language or learning to code
  • volunteering work
  • charity work – perhaps you got involved with fundraising or raising awareness of a particular organisation
  • new hobbies, such as starting to vlog, picking up a sport, learning to cook or setting up a community book club.

Remember – you’ll need to relate these to the job you’re applying for, so focus on the skills these activities taught you and how/why they’d be useful.

Where to put this information depends on the activities. Volunteering or charity work can be included under the ‘Work experience’ heading. The online courses and additional qualifications you’ve gained can go in the ‘Education’ section while any new skills you’ve learned need to be housed under ‘Skills and achievements’. If any new hobbies are relevant to the role you’re applying for, place these in the ‘Hobbies and interests’ section.

How is AI used in the recruitment process?

A recent survey by the Institute of Student Employers (ISE) found that nearly a third of employers use AI in their hiring processes.

While predominantly used in online psychometric tests, AI is increasingly used by employers in the form of applicant tracking systems (ATS).

An ATS works by using keyword trackers to scan through CVs to identify relevant candidates and filter out those who don’t meet the requirements. CVs that fit the bill are then ranked in order of suitability. Basically, it narrows down the number of CVs a hiring manager has to look at, saving them time and allowing them to focus their efforts on the interview and evaluation stages. An applicant tracking system also usually includes features that track an applicant’s progress after selection, helping employers to remain organised.

To optimise your CV for an ATS, make sure you:

  • Research the company and tailor your CV.
  • Thoroughly read the job description and person specification and include relevant keywords from these in your CV.
  • Identify all your qualifications/certifications by name.
  • Avoid images, logos or graphics as an ATS can’t read them. Use text only.
  • Make sure you save your CV with an appropriate file format. Not all ATS’ are compatible with a PDF. Check to see which file format you’ll need.

Can I use AI in my job application?

The short answer is yes, as long as you use AI tools sensibly.

The slightly longer answer advises you to use with caution. For starters, it’s a good idea to check where recruiters stand on the issue. Do they welcome applications that utilise AI? Read all application instructions carefully and if needed contact hiring managers directly for guidance.

Responsible ways to use AI in job applications include:

  • preliminary research
  • summarising job descriptions
  • using AI generated CV and cover letter templates
  • utilising mock interview simulators to practice your interview performance.

AI shouldn’t be used to:

  • write your CV, personal summary or cover letter in its entirety
  • script word-for-word answers to common interview questions
  • generate responses in skills or aptitude tests.

While many employers embrace the use of AI, it’s essential that your application is authentic. Generic, impersonal, robotic CVs and applications that have been copied and pasted from AI generators are unlikely to impress.

As the use of AI becomes more prevalent, recruiters are more adept at spotting it. So never attempt to pass off a completely AI generated CV as your own.

Read more about using generative AI in job applications.

What common mistakes should I avoid making in my CV?

With such a small window of opportunity to impress potential employers, mistakes can be costly. Here are a few examples of things you should avoid:

  • Poor formatting – When thinking about how to format your CV, recruiters need to find the most relevant information as easily as possible. ‘The formatting of your CV forms the recruiter’s first impression of your application. So if it isn’t good, then they start thinking that you aren’t very good, and however strong the content is, it’s difficult to win someone round from there,’ says Graham Philpott, head of careers consultancy at the University of Reading. It’s important to keep your CV concise so that it can be absorbed quickly. The template you choose to follow should be striking yet uncluttered.
  • Failing to tailor your application – ‘Your CV is a marketing tool, and all marketing needs to be tailored to its audience if it is to be successful,’ explains Graham. Everything you include must be relevant to the company and role you’re applying for. ‘Recruiters can easily spot a generic CV – it may be time-consuming, but putting in that extra effort to tailor your CV to the specific role will really pay off,’ adds Jo Horton, careers adviser at the University of Leeds. Don’t be afraid to be ruthless in removing irrelevant experiences. ‘Tailoring your CV also sends the message that you have taken care and attention with your application. This shows that you want the job, and that you take pride in the work you submit – both of which will be appreciated by the recruiter,’ says Graham.
  • Spelling errors – An error-free CV is vital in showcasing your precision and attention to detail, so check everything – even your contact details. Minimise the risk of mistakes by taking your time – never leave writing your CV to the last minute. Make use of spell-checking functions in software such as Microsoft Word. Another good tip is to temporarily change the font, size and colour – it can trick your brain into thinking it’s a new piece of writing, enabling you to spot mistakes you might have missed. Graham suggests setting your application aside ‘for a few hours, better still a full day, then re-read it again with fresh eyes.’ Other handy tips include printing your CV and reading it aloud and reading your CV from bottom to top.
  • Lying – The facts on your CV are easy to corroborate so never assume that recruiters won’t make enquiries to do so. Claiming to have attended university when you haven’t, lying about your current job title or embellishing a period of work experience won’t do you any favours. At best, your lies will be obvious and your CV will be rejected. At worst, you may be invited for an interview where you’ll be asked questions that you’re unable to answer. More importantly, lying on your CV is a criminal offence. ‘It’s good to be confident when applying for jobs, to be positive about the skills and experience that you have and to present these in the most dynamic way possible, but outright lying is a definite no,’ explains Jo.
  • Lack of evidence – Failing to evidence your skills, achievements and experiences can be a big mistake. You need to back up how you meet the requirements, because without this information an employer can’t be confident that you’re able to do the job effectively[DH2] . Graham agrees ‘It’s easy to say that you have a skill, but evidence equals believability, and you need to be believed.’ Jo says, ‘anyone can write on their CV that they have problem-solving skills or are able to remain calm under pressure. To make your CV stand out you need to back up these claims with evidence, e.g. ‘Remained calm under pressure when answering telephone queries from up to 100 customers a day when working on the customer complaints line.’ This proves to the recruiter that you have the skills they are looking for and demonstrates how your previous experience is relevant.’
  • Ignoring gaps in your work history – As previously mentioned, gaps in employment history are fairly common and rarely a problem as long as they’re explained. Don’t be afraid to let recruiters know that you took some time out to volunteer, look after a sick relative or travel the world.