What is a CV?
CV stands for Curriculum Vitae, meaning course of life, and is a summary of your qualifications, skills and experience, usually used to show your suitability for a job opportunity or course, which may be advertised or speculative (not advertised). UK employers tend to use the term CV rather than Resume, which is commonly used in Europe and North America. The aim of a CV is to get you shortlisted for an interview, by presenting evidence to show how you meet the selection criteria for a job or course. It also indicates what you are happy to/want to talk about in the interview. So if there is even the slightest chance that you’ll want to talk about something, leave it in your CV.
A CV is usually one or two pages in length, never one and a half. CVs for academic roles can be longer than two pages as they have additional sections to include, such as Publications.
You can find some examples on our Example CVs page.
How can I make my CV stand out?
- Personalise and tailor your CV to the opportunity you are applying for - this involves ensuring that the knowledge, skills and experiences the recruiter is looking for is really easy for them to find. These Example Action Verbs for CVs will help you to identify the types of words to use.
- You can use text generative AI to identify the words and phrases to include in your CV, and get it to suggest ways to change your bullet points to emphasise them too. To do this you can upload the job details, and de-personalised sections of your CV, into whichever application you use, then ask it to tailor your CV text. Treat this text as a rough draft though, as you need to improve it.
- Check spelling and grammar and get your CV checked before sending. Use a consistent, easy to read, font throughout, such as Arial or Calibri in size 10-12, with clearly labelled headings one or two font sizes larger. Format information using concise paragraphs and bullet points.
- Save your CV, using your full name, as a PDF, as that will maintain the formatting whoever opens it.
What should I include?
Name - use your name as the heading, nice and big as that shows confidence. Include the name you like to be known by if this is different from your official name. Use capital letters for the first letter of your first name and surname.
Contact details - you can include your full address, or if you prefer, yo