UK CV format: layout, sections and order

The standard UK CV format

A UK CV is a factual summary of your working life, written for a specific job. It is shorter and plainer than a CV in some other countries: no photo, no personal data beyond what an employer needs to contact you, and no signature or declaration at the end. The reader wants to see, quickly, what you do now, what you have done before and whether it matches the advert in front of them.

The format that does this best is reverse chronological. Your current or most recent job comes first, and each earlier job follows below it. Headings are the same words every employer expects, such as "Work experience", "Education" and "Skills", so nobody has to hunt. How long it should run is a separate question, covered in our guide to CV length. The short version is that most people fit on two sides of A4.

Sections in order

For most people with some work history, this order works:

1. Name and contact details: phone, email, town or city, and a LinkedIn or portfolio link if it adds something.
2. Personal statement: three to five lines on who you are, what you offer and what you want next. Our personal statement guide covers how to write it.
3. Work experience: job title, employer, place and dates (month and year), then bullet points on what you achieved.
4. Education: degree or highest qualification first, with grade and dates; then A levels or equivalent; GCSEs in one line.
5. Skills: technical skills, software, languages and licences, grouped so they can be scanned.
6. Optional sections: certifications, volunteering, projects, publications, interests. Include them only when they help with this job.

Change the order when your strongest evidence sits lower down. A graduate or school leaver usually puts education straight after the personal statement, because it is their main qualification for the job. A nurse, engineer or accountant may put registration or a professional qualification near the top for the same reason. The rule is simple: the section that best answers the advert goes highest.

Reverse chronological or skills-based?

The reverse chronological format suits nearly everyone, and it is what UK recruiters and application systems expect. A skills-based (or functional) CV groups your experience under headings such as "Project management" or "Customer service" and puts a brief job history underneath. It can help when your recent jobs do not relate to the one you want, for example when you are changing career, returning after a long break or have many short contracts.

Use it with care. Some readers see a skills-based CV and wonder what it is hiding, and some screening software struggles to match skills to dates. A hybrid is often the better answer: a short "Key skills" section of four to six evidenced points under your statement, then a normal job history. You get the relevant skills read first without losing the timeline.

Layout, fonts and spacing

Good CV layouts in the UK look calm. The reader should be able to glance down the left edge and see every job title and date. A few specific choices make that happen:

• Paper: A4, not US Letter. Check the setting in your word processor before you export.
• Font: a plain one such as Arial, Calibri, Helvetica or Georgia. Body text usually sits between 10 and 12 point, with headings a size or two bigger.
• Margins: wide enough that the page does not look crammed. If you are squeezing margins to fit, cut words instead.
• Dates: in one format throughout, such as "Mar 2022 to present", aligned in the same place for every job.
• Bullet points: one line or two at most, each starting with a verb.
• Colour: black text, with one accent colour for headings at most.

White space is part of the format. A CV with clear gaps between sections reads faster than a denser one with more on it, and it looks more confident. If everything feels cramped, the fix is almost always shorter bullet points rather than a smaller font.

What to leave out on a UK CV

UK employers do not expect personal details that other countries sometimes include, and adding them can work against you. Leave these off:

• A photo. It is not expected outside acting, modelling and some presenting jobs.
• Date of birth or age. Age is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010, which is one reason UK CVs leave it out.
• Marital status, children, religion, nationality and health. None of them is relevant to whether you can do the job.
• Your full home address. Your town or city is enough, and it is safer if your CV is posted online.
• National Insurance number, passport number or bank details. An employer asks for these after an offer, never on a CV.
• A heading that says "Curriculum Vitae". The document is obviously a CV; use your name as the title.

Right to work is the exception worth thinking about. Employers must check that every new employee has the right to work in the UK before they start, and they do it with documents, not your CV. You do not have to mention it. If you are a visa holder or have settled status and think a recruiter might wonder, one line in your contact details, such as "Full right to work in the UK", saves a question.

PDF or Word?

Send a PDF unless the advert or recruiter asks for something else. A PDF keeps your layout exactly as you set it on every screen and printer, and it cannot be edited by accident. Make sure it is a real text PDF, exported from your editor, not a scan or a photo of a page. You can test this by trying to select and copy a line of text from it.

Some recruitment agencies ask for Word, because they add their own branding or remove your contact details before sending your CV to a client. Some older application systems also prefer .docx. Keep an editable version for these cases, and name both files clearly, for example "Priya-Shah-CV.pdf" rather than "CV final v3.pdf".

Formatting for applicant tracking systems

Many employers, especially larger ones, take applications through an applicant tracking system. It reads the text out of your file, fills in fields such as job titles and dates, and lets recruiters search for keywords. It does not judge design. It just needs to find your words in the right order.

A single column is the safest layout for this, because the text reads top to bottom exactly as a person would read it. Two-column designs, tables, text boxes and content in the page header or footer can come out jumbled or be skipped. Icons in place of words ("phone" symbol instead of the number) and skill bars carry no text at all. Use standard headings, write out abbreviations in full once, and use the exact wording of the advert where it truthfully describes your experience. If you want to see how your CV reads to a system, our free ATS CV checker will show you.

A UK CV format checklist

• A4, one column, plain font, black text.
• Name at the top as the title, then phone, email and town.
• A short personal statement written for this job.
• Jobs in reverse date order, with month and year for each.
• Achievements as bullet points starting with a verb, with numbers where you have them.
• Education with grades, skills grouped and specific.
• No photo, date of birth, marital status or full address.
• Saved as a text PDF with a clear file name, plus a Word version for agencies.
• Read aloud once, then checked by someone else for typos.