Your CV’s format influences how your document looks and the order in which your skills and achievements are presented.
The right layout keeps your CV clean, professional, and appropriate for the target role while guiding the employer’s attention to your most relevant achievements.
In this guide, we’ll show you the CV format that British employers prefer, alternative formats for specific situations, and key document formatting tips that are the final step in writing the perfect CV.
The best CV format is the reverse chronological CV
The reverse chronological CV is the most widely used format in the UK and the standard across all fields.
This layout emphasises your employment history by listing your work experience in reverse, starting with your most recent role. This approach emphasises your recent wins and gives recruiters a clear view of your career progression.
The reverse chronological CV is the best format for job applicants with any type of work experience, including volunteer experience, internships, and work placements.
How to write a good reverse chronological CV
A good reverse chronological CV requires clear focus and careful tailoring. You should prioritise achievements that relate to your target job, especially if they involved similar skills or responsibilities.
Here are some tips to bear in mind when laying out your document:
- Start each job entry with a line of context: Mention the field, market, or industry to help employers quickly understand your background
- Don’t skip informal experience: Internships, volunteering, and work placements can demonstrate practical skills, especially if you’re early in your career
- Highlight accomplishments that connect to your target job: Consider the job’s key responsibilities and the skills you’ll need to execute them
- Use a stacked format to show promotions within one company: List roles under one company heading with different dates and titles
Here’s what correctly formatted work experience looks like on a reverse chronological CV. Notice how this applicant has listed two job titles to reflect their promotion from Creative Copywriter to Senior Creative Copywriter.
Cicero Marketing Agency, Manchester
Senior Creative Copywriter (Apr 20XX – Present)
Creative Copywriter (Feb 20XX – Mar 20XX)
- Crafted compelling, culturally attuned digital campaigns for charities and third-sector organisations
- Created engaging messaging for webpages, email newsletters, and paid ads, helping increase donations to client charities by up to 30%
- Collaborated closely with designers and strategists to develop end-to-end creative concepts that resonated with diverse audiences across the UK and beyond
- Played a key role in refining brand voices for over 12 clients, carefully tailoring marketing tone and digital impact
Other standard UK CV formats
While the reverse chronological CV is the most common UK CV format, these alternatives are ideal for situations where demonstrating certain skills or a qualification is more important than sharing your employment history.
For example, you could be changing careers, applying for a job in academia, or trying to get on a graduate scheme.
Skills-based CV format
The skills-based CV is an excellent alternative format if you have very little relevant work experience. Its unique layout is perfect for career changes and first-time job applicants, especially those without a relevant university degree or vocational qualification.
This format organises your CV around your key skills rather than your work history. Good skills-based CVs highlight 3–4 job-relevant skills, each supported by a few bullet points demonstrating them in action.
Tips for writing a strong skills-based CV
A skills-based CV is great when you’re short on experience but want to show what you’re capable of. Use these tips to make it work:
- Tailor it to one employer: A generic skills-based CV won’t cut it — select skills that matter to the specific employer you’re trying to reach by checking the job advert carefully
- Prioritise industry-specific skills: Don’t let soft skills like ‘teamwork’ or ‘communication’ take up a large chunk of your CV. Focus on technical skills that demonstrate your ability to do the job
- Show your ability with detailed examples: Make sure your achievements include a specific method and a measurable result (use the X-Y-Z formula to identify missing details)
Recent graduate CV format
If you’re applying for your first job after graduation, you’ll need to adjust your CV’s layout so your most impressive qualifications stand out properly.
The education section appears near the top of graduate CVs, making your recent academic achievements stand out to the employer.
Tips for laying out your CV as a recent graduate
When building your graduate CV, it’s important to consider your target job and its relevance to your degree. Here are a few things to remember as you write your CV:
- Only put education first if it’s relevant to the target job: Your degree should relate to the position. Consider using a skills-based format if not
- Highlight relevant awards and extra courses: Short courses, academic awards, or certifications can strengthen your CV and show initiative
- Mention SU roles and extracurriculars if they relate to your target job: Roles in student unions, clubs, or societies can show leadership and teamwork
Academic CV format
If you’re applying for a researcher, lecturer, or university faculty role, you’ll need to use an academic CV format.
This format highlights your education, research, teaching, publications, grants, and other academic achievements.
Tips for formatting an academic CV
Academic CVs can be significantly longer than two pages. Hiring committees generally prefer you to follow a clear structure that flows through your education, research, teaching experience, and skills. A conventional page format is best, with CV-appropriate fonts, clear section divisions, and minimal graphic design.
- Stick with a traditional font: Times New Roman is a safe bet
- Follow the citation style used by the institution: Check department guidelines and match their preferred referencing format
- Use bold text to highlight key information: Avoid italics or underlining unless your chosen citation style specifically calls for it
Formatting guidelines for UK CVs
Considering the more specific details of your CV’s formatting, such as font choice, wording, and file type, can make your job application more engaging and professional.
Follow these formatting guidelines to make sure your final document is clean and easy to read:
- Left-align your content – Justified text is hard to read
- Use a professional font – Stick to fonts like Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman, size 10–12pt
- Maintain consistent formatting – Use the same heading and body styles throughout the document
- Use clear section headings – Personal Statement, Experience, Education, and Skills are standard headings in the UK
- Use white space effectively – Use single spacing or 1.5 line spacing to cleanly display your bullet points and personal statement
- Set reasonable margins – 1.25–2 cm gives your CV room to breathe
- Save your CV in PDF format – PDFs look the same on any computer, so your document will look exactly the same to the employer
- Choose an easy-to-find file name — E.g., Forename-Surname-CV-Job-Title.pdf
Pre-formatted CV templates for international applications
If you’re applying for a job outside the UK, it’s important to make sure that your job application document meets local formatting standards. These free CV templates are preformatted so you can correctly present your strengths for any opportunity.
Download these templates to create a standard EuroPass CV, a North American resume, or an Indian resume.
European Format
US Format
Indian Format
Get help formatting your CV
Using an online CV maker is the easiest way to ensure your final job application is clean and consistent from top to bottom. Upload your current draft CV or quickly create a new CV by following the instructions.
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