Presentation Is Key: 5 CV Format Tips

A successful CV not only needs to contain compelling and powerful information, but it also needs to look professional and polished.

Fortunately, here are five easy tips to help ensure that your CV format is impeccable. 

1. Use Your Name as a Title

It’s not necessary to title your CV as either ‘CV’ or ‘Curriculum Vitae.’ This will be obvious to hiring managers so there’s no need to use up valuable space by labelling the document. Instead, let your full name serve as the title of your CV. Your name should be the largest text on the page and it should be placed at the very top so it will be the first thing that a hiring manager reads.

2. Set Your Line Spacing and Margins

Start by setting up your CV properly with adequate page margins and line spacing. Page margins for a CV should be between 2 and 2.5 centimetres (about an inch) all the way around, although you can make them a bit smaller if you need to fit one more line of text onto the page. Be careful to keep your page margins at least 1.25 centimetres so your CV doesn’t look cluttered and nothing will be cut off when it’s printed out.

For the line spacing of your CV body text, select 1.0 or 1.15. Add a double space after each heading or subheading. This line spacing scheme will allow you to include a lot of information on your CV without wasting space but while still preserving the clean, professional style of the document.

3. Organise Your CV With Headings and Bullet Points

Break up the text on your CV with headings and subheadings. Label each of your CV sections, such as your education, work experience, skills, and any optional CV sections that you include with a font that is bigger and bolder than your body text.

Then, use bullet points under each past position or degree to organise your information and make your CV easily scannable. For your work experience, include three to five bullet points, highlighting your quantifiable achievements and skills over job duties wherever possible.

4. Use a Reverse Chronological Format

When listing your education details, past work positions, and so forth, use the reverse chronological format to organise each section. List your current or most recent job or school first and then work backwards in time from there. That way, when a potential employer quickly scans through your CV, he or she will see your most recent degrees, experience, and achievements first.

Or you can try resume format which is a formal document that a job applicant creates to itemise their qualifications for a position. Resume format is paired by a customised cover letter.

5. Choose Fonts and Colours Carefully

Finally, choose your fonts and colours carefully. A CV is a professional document, so you’ll likely want to stick to simple, easy-to-read fonts like Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman, and so forth. Keep your body font between 10 and 12 points and your headings between 14 and 16 points.

Select a font colour that is dark enough to be legible both on-screen and when printed, such as black, dark grey, or navy. You might decide to add some pops of colour in your section headings or in the header of your CV, but stay away from bright, garish colours.