Not sure where to begin? Check out some CV examples for inspiration.
1. Order of CV Sections
Employers will likely only spend about 8 seconds looking at your CV, so it’s important to present your information in order to best capture their attention. If you have at least some professional work experience, your CV should follow this order:
- CV header (your name and contact information)
- Personal statement
- Work experience
- Education
- Skills
- Optional resume sections (hobbies, achievements, languages, publications, etc.)
If you have little to no professional work experience (if you are a student or recent graduate, for example), you will want to use a different CV section order:
- CV header
- Personal statement
- Skills
- Education (including awards and honours, degree classification, and so forth)
- Work experience (including any volunteer experience, part-time work, internships, work placements, etc.)
- Optional resume sections
2. CV Fonts and Colours
Choose a font that’s professional and easy to read, such as Arial, Calibri, Cambria, Garamond, Georgia, Helvetica, Times New Roman, or Verdana. Use 11 or 12 point font for the body of your CV and 14-16 point font for heading and subheadings. If you opt for serif font like Times New Roman be sure to use a font size that is big enough to be legible, as serif fonts often appear smaller and denser.
Select a font colour that is, again, professional and easy to read, like black, dark gray, or navy. You can opt to introduce a pop of colour in your CV header, but keep the overall colour scheme businesslike.
3. Margins and Spacing
The standard for CV margins is one inch all the way around. However, you can adjust the margins slightly if you need to squeeze one more line of text onto the page, but don’t go less than 0.75 inches as it will start to look cramped and some text may be cut off when you print out your CV.
Use 1.15 line spacing for the body text of your CV to allow for easy readability while not sacrificing too much space. After each heading or subheading, use a double space.
4. CV Length
Although two pages is considered the standard CV length, there is an increasing trend toward single-page CVs. However, it’s also acceptable for very experienced candidates to submit CVs that are up to three pages long. So, depending on your experience level, shoot for between one and three pages in length, but be sure that everything you include on your CV is relevant to the job that you are applying for.
5. Use Columns, Headings, and Bullet Points
Use columns, headings, and bullet points to break up the information on your CV and avoid overwhelming a potential employer with a massive wall of text. You might include one narrower column with your contact information, skills, and any optional CV sections, and one wider column with your work experience and education.