UK CV format: how to write a CV for British employers

• Two sides of A4 for most people; one is fine for school leavers and many graduates.
• A personal statement of three to five lines at the top.
• Reverse-chronological work history, then education, then skills.
• No photo, date of birth, marital status or nationality.
• British spelling, and dates written consistently (for example "Mar 2021 – Present").
• Your right to work in the UK, if an employer might otherwise wonder.

The personal statement (or profile) sits under your name and contact details. In three to five lines it should say who you are professionally, what you are good at, and what you are looking for. Tailor it to each application — a generic statement wastes the most-read space on the page.

1. Name and contact details — phone, email, town or city, LinkedIn.
2. Personal statement.
3. Work experience — job title, employer, location, dates, and achievement-focused bullets.
4. Education — degree and classification, then A-levels or equivalent if recent or required.
5. Skills — technical skills, software and languages.
6. Optional: professional memberships, certifications, volunteering, interests (only if they add something).

Graduates usually put education first, because their degree, classification and modules carry more weight than early work history.

Each role needs the job title, the employer, the town, and the dates on one or two lines, then three to six bullets. Start each bullet with a verb in the past tense (present tense for your current job), and give the result, not just the task.

British CVs are usually written without “I”, and in a plain, factual register. Phrases such as “results-driven” or “passionate self-starter” add nothing a recruiter can check; the numbers in the bullets do that job.

Graduate recruiters screen on your degree, its classification and the modules or dissertation that relate to the job. Put them at the top, with the year, and include predicted grades if you haven’t finished.

Part-time jobs, societies and volunteering count as experience. A bar job shows reliability and dealing with the public; running a society shows organisation and budgeting. Write them up with results like any other role.

Under the Equality Act 2010, employers shouldn’t base hiring decisions on protected characteristics such as age, race, religion, sex or marriage. British CVs therefore leave out the details that reveal them.

A skills section on a UK CV lists software, technical skills, languages and qualifications such as a driving licence, as short items rather than sentences. “Excel (pivot tables, Power Query), SAP, conversational French, full UK driving licence” tells a recruiter more than “strong IT and communication skills”.

Interests are optional. Include them only if they say something useful: running a club, competing at a sport, a long-running volunteer commitment, or something relevant to the job. “Reading, travel, socialising” takes space and tells the reader nothing.

• A clear font at 10 to 12 point, with margins of about 2 cm.
• Consistent dates, for example “Mar 2021 – Present”, aligned in the same place for every role.
• Bold for job titles or employers, not for random words in your bullets.
• Send a PDF unless the advert asks for Word, and name the file sensibly: “Jane-Smith-CV.pdf”.

UK employers must check that you are allowed to work here before you start, and recruiters often screen on it early. You don’t need to give your nationality. A single line under your contact details is enough.

Most visa holders now have an eVisa, and employers check it online using a share code you generate on GOV.UK. You don’t need to put the share code on your CV; send it when the employer asks.

Explain a gap with one factual line in your work history, such as “Career break: caring for a parent, 2022 – 2023” or “Travelled in South America, 2024”. You don’t have to give private details. If you are returning after several years, list the courses, volunteering or freelance work you did in the meantime, and look for returner programmes, which many large UK employers run.

Many public employers don’t rely on a CV alone. The Civil Service assesses applications against Success Profiles — usually behaviours, sometimes experience, technical skills and strengths — and the advert says which elements are assessed at each stage. NHS employers mostly use application forms with a supporting statement against the person specification.

For those, keep the CV factual and write your evidence where it will be scored. See how to write an NHS supporting statement, and the Public Sector & Civil Service CV template.

Unless the advert says otherwise, send a cover letter with your CV. Keep it to one page: why this role, two or three pieces of evidence from your CV that match the advert, and a short close. Recruitment agencies often skip it, but direct applications to employers usually expect one. The UK cover letter templates follow British conventions.

• Three or more pages for a non-academic role.
• A photo, date of birth or nationality.
• A personal statement made of adjectives (“dynamic, motivated, passionate”) with no facts.
• Duties with no results.
• American spelling (“program”, “organize”) for a UK employer.
• Unexplained gaps or dates that don’t add up.
• Contact details in the page header, where some applicant-tracking systems can’t read them.

Graduate schemes, large employers and recruitment agencies in the UK commonly screen CVs with applicant-tracking systems. Plain text, standard headings, and contact details in the body of the page — not the header — all help the parser.

Check what a parser reads on your CV with the free ATS resume checker.