Writing a CV

Find out more about how to create an effective CV. Busy employers receive lots of CVs so yours may only have a few seconds to make the right impression.

First steps - how do I start?

A CV will usually include information about your education, work and extracurricular activities, plus any positions of responsibility. If you haven’t already got a CV, start by creating a document with information about yourself under each of these headings. You’ll need a bit of detail about these so write a short summary of your experiences and activities, including the skills you demonstrated and anything you achieved.

Make sure to meet the criteria

To write your CV, you need to be clear about the required skills and qualities for the job or course concerned. A general CV which isn’t targeted stands little chance of success, so you need to work out what the recruiter is looking for. You can usually find this in the job / course description. If this isn’t very detailed, or you’re sending your CV to ask about possible opportunities, read relevant careers profiles and similar job adverts to help.
Then you need to match your CV to the requirements by:

• making sure your most relevant experiences appear early in the CV
• using keywords from the recruiter’s advert
• referring to the skills and qualities they require

Content and structure

A CV is divided into sections, typically including:

• Name at the top followed by contact details. Email and phone are usually enough. You can include a postal address but leave this out if you are submitting your CV to a jobs board or a recruitment agency. You can also include a link to your LinkedIn profile or personal website. Don’t include a photo of yourself for a UK CV
• Education - titles of your qualifications and any relevant degree content, eg key modules, projects and/or skills you've gained
• Work experience/Employment - include full/part-time, temporary and voluntary jobs. Summarise your duties, achievements and the skills involved
• Positions of responsibility, if any
• Additional skills (eg languages or relevant IT skills)
• Interests - brief descriptions to give an insight into your personality and involvement
• Referees - Normally two, a university tutor plus one other, ideally work related. Provide name, job title, along with university department or organisation name, email and phone number. You can usually just put 'References available on request' if you need to save space. Remember to get your referees’ permission.

Note, the sections don’t have to appear in this order or use exactly these headings. Create headings that match to key words or relevant experience.

Personal profile

A 'Personal profile’ or ‘Career Objective' statement is optional and most people do not need one. In some sectors it may be expected, so do some research into the industry or type of role that you are applying for. It can also be useful to include a statement if you are giving someone your CV without a covering letter or supporting application; for example at a recruitment event.

It’s hard to write a really good personal profile but if you do decide to have one, make it concise and to the point. Briefly cover who you are, what you have to offer (in terms of your most relevant skills and experience), and the type of job you are looking for.

Format and style

Your CV needs to create an excellent first impression through a professional format and layout through:

• A sensible length, normally two A4-sized pages maximum. Recruiters haven’t time to read more. If a job doesn’t require lots of qualifications or experience, a one-page CV may be fine
• A clear, common typeface, with good use of the space on the page - avoid dense, long sections of text and large empty spaces
• Consistent format for headings, spacing, and typeface throughout
• Dates and locations (town/city) for your education and work history
• Correct spelling, punctuation, grammar - mistakes mean your CV will probably be rejected

We don’t recommend using one of the many online CV templates. Another person’s format and structure won’t necessarily suit what you want to emphasise.

Written style

Aim for concise statements to make it easy to read quickly. You need to write with impact so go for short, simple sentences or bullet points. Instead of using "I" every time, start sentences or bullet points with verbs that match the skills the recruiter is looking for, eg "Organised...", "Liaised with...."

Use positive and active words, eg rather than “My duties included serving customers…” or “I had to serve customers…”, it’s better to say “I met customers’ needs by…”

Where possible, include what you achieved in your activities, eg how you contributed to your employer’s business or group project for example, or what you did that led to improvements or helped achieve the desired result. Alternatively, comment on what you learnt from your experience, eg about effective teamwork or how businesses operate.

CVs for the global market

If you are applying for work internationally, do some research into the expected format and content of a CV for that country. For example in the USA a CV (or resume) is usually only one side of A4. In China it can be up to three sides and in Greece up to five sides.

Personal details

Some countries require comprehensive personal details such as nationality, gender, marital status or date of birth. In others eg the UK and USA, anti-discrimination laws make this information unnecessary.

Photographs

Different countries have different guidelines for adding a photograph. In Europe and Asia, adding a photograph is often standard practice. Use a 'head and shoulders' professional-looking image.

Qualifications

You may wish to include the local equivalent to your qualifications on your CV, so that the recruiter can understand your level of education. In some cases you will be required to produce evidence of your qualifications at the point of application.

Key tasks

Once you’ve read our advice, we suggest completing the following tasks:

1. Attend one of our CV workshops or watch our recorded CV webinar. See our events page for more information.
2. Explore our top-rated online course ‘How to succeed at applications’
3. See our sample CVs to get an idea of how our advice can be put into practice
4. CVs are usually accompanied by a covering letter. Find out about writing a successful covering letter