On sourcing: the advice below comes from the National Careers Service, Prospects and five university careers services, all linked in Sources. They do not always agree; where they differ, both views are given. How an employer's applicant tracking system behaves depends on the product and on how the employer has set it up.
Length and layout
- Prospects recommends that CVs are "no longer than two A4 pages", and says three pages may suit senior candidates or a long career history. Warwick's careers service notes that norms vary by sector: finance and consulting often expect one page, law and engineering generally two.
- For font and margins, Prospects suggests a font size between 10 and 12 and margins of 2.5 centimetres.
- For layout, use one column with no tables or text boxes. Sheffield: "Don't use headers and footers, tables, graphics and logos." LSE Careers: "Columns, tables, text boxes, and graphics can confuse the ATS parser, meaning key information can easily get lost." Warwick adds that some systems cannot detect content inside a table or text box. Why layouts break parsers is covered in two-column layouts and ATS.
- For headings, use standard ones. Sheffield: "Use clear simple headings, eg 'Work experience', rather than 'Professional expertise'."
- Skip the title. Prospects advises against titling the document "Curriculum vitae" or "CV".
The sections a UK CV usually has
The National Careers Service says a CV "should include a section for your contact details, an introduction, your education history, your work history and references". The introduction is "a few short lines that sum up who you are and what you hope to do". For contact details, Prospects suggests your full name, home address, mobile number and email address.
What to leave out
The careers services we checked agree on the personal details that do not belong on a CV:
- The National Careers Service: "You should not include your age, your date of birth, whether you're married or your nationality."
- Warwick: "For UK CVs, you shouldn't include date of birth, marital status, gender, nationality, or a photograph."
- Prospects: a photograph is not needed unless you are applying for an acting or modelling job, and "Your date of birth is irrelevant".
This is advice to candidates. The legal duties sit with employers, who must not discriminate on protected characteristics, which Acas lists as including age and marriage or civil partnership. How photo norms differ elsewhere in Europe is covered in resume photos in Germany and the EU.
Q.Word or PDF?
The careers services differ. Sheffield recommends a Word, text or rich-text file and advises against PDF unless the advert asks for it or a person will read the CV. LSE Careers accepts both, adding: "When in doubt, a Word document is the safer option for ATS compatibility." Send what the advert asks for; if it says nothing, a Word file is the cautious choice. More on the trade-off is in PDF vs Word.
Keywords and spelling
Sheffield advises using "relevant keywords that match the job description or person specification". The University of Bristol's careers service says recruiters "typically search the system in a similar way to using an online search engine", and that repeating keywords "does not improve your chances and can make your CV harder to read". Name each skill you have the way the advert does, once or twice; how many keywords a CV needs goes into the detail.
Use British spelling for UK roles. Warwick's careers service warns that a tracking system may flag non-UK spelling.
See what your resume is missing — before you apply.
CVder reads the job posting and your resume side by side, then shows the exact terms to add and the formatting a parser would trip on.
Right to work
Employers must check that a candidate has the right to work in the UK before employing them, according to GOV.UK. Whether to state it on the CV is your call; we found no source saying a CV must. The University of Manchester's careers service advises international students that "You can typically add this information to the heading or your contact details section", and to mention the type of visa they hold or are eligible to apply for, its expiration date and any work restrictions.
- Two A4 pages, one column, standard headings, font size 10 to 12.
- No tables, text boxes, headers, footers, logos or photos.
- Leave out your date of birth, age, marital status and nationality.
- Use the advert's words for the skills you have, in British spelling.
- Send the file type the advert asks for; when it does not say, Word is the cautious choice.