What to Include in a CV: 12+ Most Important Sections

Don’t know what a CV is or unclear about what to put on yours? You’re in the right place.

The most important things to include on your CV are your experience, skills, and qualifications that are relevant to the job you want.

Here’s a modern CV template to give you a quick visual breakdown of what to include on your CV to impress your target employer:

Download CV Example (MS Word)

 

The example above provides a basic outline of a CV, demonstrating everything you need to include.

Additionally, here’s a list of CV sections to include in your CV, followed by tips for what to put in each section:

• Contact information
• A personal statement (a short introduction)
• Relevant experience
• Education
• Skills
• Optional extra CV sections

If you add extra CV sections, include only relevant details, such as your:

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1. Your contact information

The purpose of your CV is to convince employers to interview you for the role you want. So make it easy for employers to reach you to schedule an interview by putting your contact details at the top of your CV.

Here’s the contact information your CV should always include:

• your name
• a professional email address (your name and/or job title rather than an address that makes you look silly, like ‘boofsgoofs473@yahoo.com’)
• your mobile phone number

Optionally, also put these contact details on your CV:

• your postal address (if you don’t want to put your whole address on a CV, you can just add your general area)
• your LinkedIn

2. A job-specific personal statement

When you’re learning how to write a good CV, figuring out how to get your personal statement right is key. Positioned at the top of your CV, this section (also called a CV profile) should get the employer’s attention with your most job-specific experience, achievements, and skills.

So study the job advert and research the company to learn what details to highlight in this 3–4 sentence summary.

Here’s an example of a CV personal statement customised for a company seeking a ‘creative social media manager’ capable of ‘enhancing audience engagement’:

3. Relevant experience

If you have some, relevant work experience is the most important information to include on your CV. Employers prefer to bring on experienced new team members who’ve done the job before. So fill your CV’s work experience section with proof that you’ve mastered your craft by:

• giving examples of your skills in action
• adding hard numbers to show what you can accomplish

This work experience bullet point uses examples and hard numbers to show the recruiter that the applicant is qualified for the role they’re applying to fill:

• Optimised TikTok campaign performance by creating social media feedback surveys and research on market trends to boost platform engagement by 57%

4. Your education history

Employers want to know what level of education you’ve received. So put these details (if applicable) in your CV’s education section:

• university names, locations, and dates attended
• degree titles (including honours)
• relevant modules studied
• secondary school names, locations, and dates attended
• A-Levels & T-Levels
• GCSEs

5. A list of job-specific skills

Putting a bulleted list of skills on your CV shouldn’t be an afterthought. Make this section matter by:

• researching the company to determine which of your skills will be most impressive to the recruiting manager
• providing specific examples of your relevant expertise (names of software programs, for instance)
• only listing skills directly related to the role you want

This is a well-written CV skills section:

• Graphic design: Figma, Adobe Suite (Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop), Canva, Procreate
• Platforms, tools, and analytics: Google Analytics, Hootsuite, BuzzSumo, Live Writing, KISS Metrics, WordPress, Bit.ly
• PR tools: Help A Reporter Out (HARO), PRWeb, PitchEngine

6. Optional extra sections

You can create extra sections for any other relevant information you want your target employer to notice on your CV, such as:

• hobbies and interests that show you’re a well-rounded person
• technical skills related to the job you want
• foreign language skills that are useful in your line of work
• extracurricular activities highlighting job-specific skills

The additional information you should put on your CV depends on your situation and industry. For example, if you’re writing an academic CV, you might include sections for your publications, classes taught, and conferences attended.

Other good things to put in your CV

In addition to placing the right sections on your CV, ensure you put some thought into your CV’s layout and language, including the following:

• Keywords from the job advert – Include exact terms and phrases from the job description to emphasise your suitability for the specific role.
• Unique action verbs – Describe your work experience with powerful action verbs like ‘established’ and ‘initiated’.
• Proper spacing – Use 1.27–2.5 cm margins and 1–1.5 line spacing to ensure your CV is easy to read.
• Professional fonts – Your CV’s font should be easy to read too (Arial or Georgia are good options).

What not to include in a CV

We’ve discussed everything that goes on a CV, but is there anything you shouldn’t put on your CV? Absolutely.

Below are five things to leave off your CV:

1. Cliches: Overused words make your application seem generic, so change phrases like ‘responsible for’ and ‘detail oriented’ to attention-grabbing CV words like ‘trusted with’ and ‘meticulous’.
2. Irrelevant information: Even if you’re proud of an achievement or skill, if it’s not relevant to your target role, it won’t connect with the person who reads your CV.
3. References: Adding references to your CV takes up space where you should put details that relate your background to the job (the employer will ask for references later in the hiring process).
4. Your picture: Putting your picture on your CV opens you up to possible discrimination based on your appearance. (However, you can use a CV template with a photo if you’re applying for a job that requires you to send a professional headshot as part of your application — an acting role, for instance.)
5. Overly personal details: Your relationship status, age, race, and gender are examples of personal details to leave off your CV to avoid hiring bias.

Frequently asked questions about what goes on a CV

Still unsure what you should include in your CV for a job in the UK? We’ve answered these three common questions about CV content:

1. What do you include in a CV for a 16-year-old?
2. What do you include in a resume?
3. What do you include in a video CV?

1. What do you include in a CV for a 16-year-old?

If you’re writing a CV as a teenager, you probably don’t have much experience to highlight. But that doesn’t mean you should only look for jobs that don’t require work experience. You can still write a job-winning CV by connecting the following information to the role you want:

• Soft skills (personality traits that’ll help you succeed at work, like interpersonal abilities)
• School projects
• voluntary experience
• internships
• Personal projects

Put your information in the following CV sections:

• CV header (for your name and contact information)
• An ‘About Me’ section
• Key skills
• Education
• Experience
• Hobbies and interests

2. What do you include in a resume?

A resume is what people in the US and Canada call a CV. So if you’re writing a resume, include the same sections you’d put on your CV, with some slight differences:

• A header with your name and contact information
• A resume summary (typically called a personal statement on a CV)
• Work experience
• Education
• Skills

Another difference between a resume and a CV is their length. Your resume should be just one page, instead of the customary two pages required for a CV. So there’s typically not space for your CV’s hobbies and interests section.

3. What do you include in a video CV?

Here’s what you should include in a video CV:

• an introduction with your name and job title
• the reason you’re applying (mentioning the specific company and role, if possible)
• your relevant job history and education details
• job-specific skills
• examples of your work (either visuals or stated in your script)
• a request for an interview
• a thank you to the employer for taking time to watch your video

More answers to your CV-related questions

Below are expert answers to 8 more common questions about what to include in a CV:

1. Should you stuff white words on your CV to trick an ATS?
2. What does a good CV look like?
3. Do you put your age on a CV?
4. Should I put my address on my CV?
5. What do you put in the personal profile of a CV?
6. Does a Canva CV work in the UK?
7. Can a CV be one page?
8. How do I write a CV in English?
9. What is a cover letter?