How to write a CV

Start with the role

Read the advert and person specification before writing. Mark the essential requirements, repeated responsibilities and any evidence the employer requests. Make a two-column note: requirement on the left, your strongest truthful example on the right. This prevents a generic CV from becoming a biography.

Choose the structure that lets those matches appear quickly. Reverse chronology suits a steady, relevant history. A skills-based template can help when evidence comes from several settings. Academic applications usually need research, teaching, publications and conferences as separate sections.

• Collect exact job titles, employer or institution names, dates and qualifications.
• Find truthful measures such as people supported, sites covered, turnaround time or money handled.
• Check the application instructions for requested file type, page limit or anonymisation.

Build the core sections

Put your name and current contact details at the top. A town or region is normally enough. Add a professional profile only if it makes a specific case for the target role.

For most applications, include employment and education in reverse date order. Give more space to recent, relevant evidence. Volunteering, placements, caring, projects and informal work can belong when they demonstrate a requirement. Skills should be specific and supportable, such as Excel pivot tables or facilitating resident meetings, rather than unproved labels.

• Use clear headings and consistent dates.
• Write brief bullets beginning with active verbs.
• Say what you did, the setting or scale, and the useful outcome.
• Check the education, references and personal-details decisions below before sending.

Write education and qualifications for your career stage

Put education near the top when you are early in your career or when a qualification is central to the role. The school-leaver example leads with recent study, while the graduate example adds relevant modules and a project. With substantial relevant experience, place employment first and shorten older education.

For each entry, give the qualification, school, college, university or training provider, and dates. State achieved results accurately and label predicted results as predicted. Add selected modules, a dissertation, practical work or a project only when it helps prove a requirement; name your own contribution to group work.

If you did not complete a course, do not imply that the qualification was awarded. You can list the institution and dates with a clear phrase such as ‘modules completed towards…’ when the study is relevant, or leave it out when it adds nothing useful. Trim long subject lists, routine school detail and old grades before cutting current evidence. For more ways to use study as evidence, see how to structure a CV without formal work experience.

• Use one date style throughout the CV.
• Distinguish achieved, expected and predicted results.
• Select modules and projects for the vacancy rather than listing the whole course.
• Keep evidence proportionate: a course project is not client work.

Protect personal details and prepare references

At the top of a UK CV, your name, phone number, professional email address and town or region are usually enough. Add a professional portfolio or network profile only when it is current and relevant. Leave out your date of birth, age, marital status and nationality. Do not put an identification number or other sensitive account detail on the CV.

Ask a referee before naming them or giving their details to an employer. The National Careers Service advises against putting another person's contact details on the CV; supply them through the employer's requested process instead. You can write ‘References available on request’, but omitting that line is also clear when space is tight because an employer can ask later.

Public examples need extra care. Replace your own address, phone number and email, and never publish a referee's details. Check every link in the final file and make sure it opens the professional material you intend to share.

• Use contact details you check regularly.
• Get each referee's permission and confirm how they prefer to be contacted.
• Follow the application form when it requests references at a particular stage.
• Remove private details before sharing a CV as an example or portfolio asset.

Tailor the evidence

Tailoring means changing emphasis, not inventing experience. Move the most relevant bullets upwards, mirror accurate terminology from the advert and remove detail that distracts from the decision. A customer-service role may need complaint handling near the top; an operations role may need scheduling and records first.

Test every line by asking what it proves. ‘Responsible for reports’ is weak because it describes ownership without performance. Name the report, audience and effect instead.

Edit and check

Read the finished CV as a busy employer would. Can you identify the target role, strongest evidence and recent history within a short scan? Remove repeated claims, unexplained abbreviations and empty phrases. Keep the font readable and spacing consistent rather than squeezing in every detail.

Proofread names, dates, numbers and contact details separately from spelling. Ask someone to read the final version or read it aloud. Save a clearly named master and a tailored copy. Follow the advert when choosing DOCX or PDF, then reopen the submitted file to confirm headings, bullets and page breaks survived export.

When the application asks for a covering document, use the cover-letter guide to connect the role requirements to selected CV evidence without repeating the whole CV. If your dates include time away from work, choose a clear, proportionate gap explanation.

• Check that dates do not contradict each other.
• Check every claim could be discussed at interview.
• Check links work and lead to professional material.
• Check the filename identifies you and the document.