How to Write a CV in the UK Format (Including Example)

If you’re looking to move to the UK, then you need a CV that meets the local standards. Writing a CV in a UK format means transferring your existing resume into a more favorable structure, making it easier to read for hiring managers and recruiters.

Depending on where you’re moving from, the UK format might seem pretty bizarre. There are certain layout quirks and conventions that you might not be used to.

However, if you’re applying for UK jobs, you want to make life as easy as possible for the HR department. If your CV doesn’t match the UK standard, you might find that your resume ends up sifted out of the pile straight away.

An Introduction to Writing a CV in a UK Format

Ausland founder, Vanessa, is no stranger to the UK job market. Having studied for her Master’s in London, she needed to find a graduate position in the UK quickly in order to stay in the country.

Given the size and population of London, the job market is highly competitive and full of expats, jostling for position.

By researching CVs in UK formats and plenty of trial and error, Vanessa landed a job at Expedia, where she still works, from the international office in Berlin. This guide is based on her expertise, experience, and success in transferring her US-style resume into a job-winning UK CV.

On the whole, UK CVs are fairly similar to many European CVs. That’s because, up until recently, the UK was part of the European Union, so it had visaless work agreements with 27 other member states. However, with Brexit, that’s no longer the case.

Despite this, the CV format in the UK hasn’t changed much since then. With the emergence of easy-to-use CV template builders, like Ausland, and free designs in Canva, some UK CVs have become more well-designed, with some extra graphic elements, especially around the headers.

However, this is not necessary unless you’re applying for a more creative job. In some cases, non-standard design elements can make it harder for application-sifting software to read, so it could lead to your application being denied outright.

How to Structure Your CV in a UK Format

At a glance, you can see if your CV is in a UK format or not. The structure of a CV is massively important because recruiters and AI sifting programs read your CV in a particular way.

A lot of the time, recruiters will want to compare candidates side-by-side, so having the right structure for your UK CV can really help.

While some of the elements of a UK CV might be familiar, there are some elements you wouldn’t find in a US resume, and the order of sections might be a little different from what you’re used to.

The five core sections are:

Personal Information
Professional Statement
Work Experience
Skills
Education

There are also some optional extra sections that you can add in at the end. As a standard, UK CVs can be up to two pages long, so you have more room to play with than with other European CVs.

Let’s go into each section and see what you want to include.

Personal Information

Unlike US resumes, UK CVs include personal information and contact information. UK CVs are not anonymous. You need to list your contact information; otherwise, the hiring managers won’t be able to contact you.

While this section is similar to a lot of European CVs, there is no need for a photo or headshot, unless the job description expressly requests it. It’s not done in the UK, and it will come across as bizarre for recruiters if you have a photo at the top.

This usually goes in the header of your CV and needs to include:

Your name,
Your phone number,
Your email address,
Any professional website, portfolio, or networking profile.

Professional Statement

Under your contact info-filled header, you need a professional statement. This is two or three lines, where you can introduce yourself to recruiters and explain why you’re the person for the job.

It’s best to highlight your key skills here, and make sure to include a few key words from the job description to show that you tick those specific boxes.

You don’t need to go in-depth into your passions, life goals, and hobbies at this point. Keep everything concise and to the point.

Work Experience

As with most European resumes, the CV in a UK format uses reverse chronological order. That means your current or most recent role sits at the top of the work experience section. It’s also important to keep each section as concise as possible.

For each section, you’ll need a bold one-line that states:

Your job title
The company
The location
The dates of employment

So, that looks like: Data Scientist at XYZ Corp in London, UK – January 2024 to Present.

Underneath, you should list your experience in bullet points. Try to use no more than five bullet points and focus on the outcome and impact of your contributions.

For example, managing a team of five is worth mentioning, but managing a team that successfully completed a $100k project for $90k is better. It shows that you know the value that you bring to a company.

Skills

Next, you get to list your skills. This splits into hard and soft skills. Your hard skills are your more specific, technical skills.

You can include systems that you know how to use, coding languages, and specific subsections of an industry, like social media marketing, for a content role.

For the soft skills, you can include communication, problem-solving, time management skills, and more. These are your more transferable skills that you can use in most roles.

When you’re listing your skills, try to match up to the ones that are listed in the job description. Use it like a mark scheme to help show your compatibility for the role.

With so many AI sifting companies, the programs are looking for these skills to be mentioned explicitly, so it’s an easy win.

Education

Similar to the work history section, your education section should be in reverse chronological order. Usually, this means starting with the highest form of education that you’ve achieved.

You need to list a couple of things in this section, but it should be fairly short.

You should include:

The name of the degree
The level of the degree with the grade achieved
The institution with the location (if not specified in the title)
The graduation date
Any key modules that are relevant to your job role

So, this could look like:

2.1 in BA (Hons) in Software Engineering from the University of Bristol: 2013-2016

Ruby on Rails modules
Project management modules

As you can see, each entry is short and to the point. The space on your UK CV is better used for work history and skills if you have them. That’s likely going to be of more interest to the hiring manager than your degree.

Optional Extra Sections

There are a few other sections that can be included in a CV in a UK format. These tend to be used if you have some space going spare at the end of the two pages.

It can also help show you as a more well-rounded candidate and be a place to show off certifications that don’t fit in the skills section.

These optional extra sections include:

Voluntary work
Hobbies and interests
Professional memberships
Publications
Awards

Some of these can be combined into one section. For example, it’s common to put Professional Memberships and Awards as one section, as it shows respect within the industry as a whole.

If you include any of these segments, it’s important that they link back to the job role. Having a junior karate award might be interesting to you, but it’s not necessarily relevant to a data scientist role.

However, if it’s a job that involves problem-solving, you could mention that your hobby is rock climbing, which involves having to solve problems and routes quickly and under pressure.

Tying in your hobbies, soft skills, and awards to the role gives a holistic view of you as a person, without reading like a dating profile.

How to Format Your CV in the UK Style

When you’re trying to format your CV in a UK format, there are a few things to note.

It should be no longer than two pages.
Use Arial or Times New Roman.
Use headers to split up sections.
Main body text should be size 11-12pt.
Save it as a PDF to save formatting choices.
Use a professional but interesting header design to differentiate your CV.
Use bullet points instead of paragraphs.

At its core, your UK CV should be easy to read and easy to skim. Different recruiters look for different things. Some want to be able to find your skills at a glance, while others like to read your professional statements first to see if you’ll be a good fit.

If you’re not sure how to format your UK CV, use Ausland’s CV builder. It’s intuitive to use and takes the guesswork out of creating your CV. You just have to focus on the content!

Tips for Writing Your UK CV

When you’re writing your UK CV, you need to take notice of certain conventions. If you don’t follow some of these tips, it could put you out of contention for a role, so pay attention!

Use UK English

This may feel like a no-brainer, but it’s worth emphasizing. You need to use UK English for your UK CV and cover letter. The differences between UK and US English are bigger than you might think.

Common mistakes include:

Missing out the letter ‘u’ in words like colour, flavour, and neighbour
Having double ‘l’s in words like traveler, canceled, and fueled
Using American words and phrases like parking lot, faucets, or movie theater

There are a lot of differences to consider, so check your CV carefully. It’s a UK-specific role, so it could be considered a grammatical error or disrespectful if you use US English.

Spellcheck

Before you submit your UK CV, make sure you check it for spelling and grammatical errors. It’s best to get a friend to do this, as it’s harder to spot your own mistakes. If that’s not possible, download an app like Grammarly, set it to UK English, and run your CV through that.

It’ll also flag your content for clarity, which helps when you’re trying to be concise and to the point. Even if it’s your commonly used CV, give it a once-over to be sure.

Use formal language

It’s important to remember that a CV is a formal document, so you need to use formal language. That means not using contractions and not using exclamation marks.

Recruiters want to see the facts in your CV; you can show more personality in your interview and cover letter.

Tailor your CV

No matter how similar the roles are, you need to tailor your CV. Different roles will want slightly different skillsets and wordings that you’ll have to match.

Of course, things like your education are unlikely to change, but you might need to switch to the appropriate modules to match the description.

Use job description keywords

When you’re trying to choose which skills and keywords to use, use the ones directly from the job description. Not only does it show human hiring managers that you’ve actually read the description, but it’s exactly what the AI sift programs will be looking for.

Increasingly, you’ll need to get through an AI sift before your UK CV even gets to a human being. Adding keywords from the job description directly improves your chance of getting through the AI sift.

How to Translate a US Resume into a UK CV

If you’re going from a US resume to a UK CV, there are a few specific things you have to do to make the transfer work.

You need to reduce the page count: Two pages is the absolute maximum in the UK.
Use UK-specific terminology: Check for specific words and phrases for your industry in the UK, as these may be different from those in the US.
Use UK NARIC (National Recognition Information Centre for the United Kingdom): This system helps you translate your US educational and professional certificates into UK equivalents.
Check for spelling variations: UK and US English have more differences than you might think.

There are plenty of similarities between the UK and US CVs, but these key changes will help you assimilate with hiring managers and give you a better chance of landing a job in the UK.

Example of CVs in a UK Format

Sometimes it can be difficult to visualize a certain document format, which is why we’ve included an example of a CV in the UK format to help guide you on your way.

Of course, there are some differences between certain industries, and depending on the stage of your career, you might have more optional elements in order to bulk it out.