CV Layout: Structure & Formatting Tips to Get More Interviews

Your CV is your most powerful tool to get you from the job application stage to a first-round interview, either by telephone, webcam or in person. In many cases, your CV and cover letter are the only two parts of your application that hiring managers look at, and even then only for a few seconds each.

But many of us have never been taught how to lay out a perfect CV, how to get a CV noticed, or even what sections you should include in a CV. If you feel like you're guessing every time you update your CV, you're not alone - so let's remove some of the mystery from the CV writing process.

In this guide, we'll look at how to lay out a perfect CV, we'll go into more detail about what hiring managers look for in a CV, and we'll finish with some CV formatting tips and tricks that should help your Resume to have maximum impact even at a quick first glance. Together, this should help you to grab the attention of the next hiring manager who sees your CV, so that you stand a stronger chance of getting into the interview stage.

How to Lay Out a Perfect CV

The perfect CV layout is not set in stone. It can vary depending on the type of information you want to include, how much information you have, and in some cases you might be asked to limit your CV to a single page, which will obviously influence how you lay out the page.

When writing a CV make sure to include:

Headings and Personal Details

Start with a large and clear heading. There's no need to use the words 'Curriculum Vitae' as your heading - in fact it's better just to print your name at the top centre of the page, in a slightly larger font.

Below your name, you can include important personal details such as your contact address and telephone number. Don't take up too much space with these; you can put your postal address along a single line.

The main thing is that you want your essential info to be in one place, so the recruiter has no excuse not to call you and arrange an interview. At the same time, don't feel obliged to include information about protected characteristics, such as gender, ethnicity and age.

Qualifications and Career History

It's normal for the first section below your personal details to provide the most relevant information to the role for which you are applying. For recent graduates, that's likely to be your university degree, including the classification you received, and your dissertation title if it's relevant too.

Later in your career, your employment history might be more significant than your educational background. If so, list your most recent job first, and provide a brief summary of the skills and experience you gained along the way.

Related Skills

You might have other skills that you gained outside of your work history, but which are still relevant to the role you are applying for. If these are crucial for your application, consider putting them up top, even above your most recent employment history.

This is also a good section to offer more general information about your extracurricular interests. Try to avoid the obvious, such as cooking, film/TV and going for walks. Instead, list skills that show you have an inquiring mind, such as knitting or juggling. While they might not be directly relevant to your job application, they show that you like to learn new things and that you have a well-rounded personality.

Personal Statement

Some employers ask you to include a personal statement on your CV, in which case you should include a short and carefully considered comment near the top of your first page. If you want to include a personal statement and the employer has not requested it, it may be better to place it further down on page two, where it can provide more general contextual information for your application, without taking up valuable front-page real estate on your CV.

A personal statement should be ambitious but realistic. You might be hoping to reach a board-level position someday, but you'll need to work up to it. Make sure it's clear that you'll be satisfied in the job you're applying for, at least for some time, and that you'll work hard to earn any future promotions.

Fonts and Borders

We'll come on to best practice to format a CV at the end of this article, but make sure you consider fonts, borders, margins and other page elements when laying out your CV. If you're not artistically minded, ask a friend, family member or co-worker to help you format your CV, as a second pair of eyes might spot flaws in your layout that you yourself have missed.

Generally speaking, you should aim for a clear, clean layout for your CV. Include all the relevant information, but try to leave good-sized margins and white space between the sections of your CV. You can even adjust the line spacing slightly if it helps your content to fill the vertical space on the page fully, rather than adding or removing an entire line of text for the sake of a balanced layout.

What Sections Should You Include in Your CV?

You have a lot more of a free choice than you might think when it comes to deciding what sections to include in a CV. Ultimately, you should include whatever sections will put across the most compelling reasons to advance you to the interview stage.

It's generally agreed that a few sections should always appear, no matter how brief they might be:

You might also want to include sections for any of the following, if they are relevant to your job application:

The order of sections on a CV is your choice too. If you think your career history is the strongest section, put it first (after your name and basic info). If your education is more relevant, perhaps because you are applying for an entry-level role without experience, put your qualifications top and mention any past employment further down.

What Do Hiring Managers Look For in a CV?

Hiring managers want - and often need - your CV to work as a tool to decide whether or not to progress you to the next round of the application process, and also to serve as an at-a-glance reference when they need to double-check anything about you.

This is why, although it's not necessary to put your contact details on your CV, it can be beneficial to have them there just under your name, or in the header or footer of the page.

The hiring manager will also be looking for optimism and engagement from you. They want to know that you have tailored your CV and cover letter to their role specifically, and that you are genuinely enthusiastic about wanting this vacancy in particular.

Much of this is about the content of your CV, but the layout matters too. By structuring your CV logically and designing it elegantly, you ensure the hiring manager has everything they need with no unnecessary distractions due to bad design.

Tips to Get Your CV Noticed

Candidates will go to extreme lengths to get their CV noticed. Real-life examples of this include an applicant who had their CV delivered in a pizza box. Inside was a fake pizza with each slice representing a different aspect of the applicant's personality and experiences.

Another sent two limbs from a mannequin, with an attached note that said, "I'd give an arm and a leg to work for you." Both of these examples were applying for creative roles at a marketing agency, and if you're thinking about taking a similar gamble, try to come up with something that suits the role for which you are applying.

In general though, you shouldn't have to mail half a shop dummy to get the attention of the hiring manager - and they may thank you for not doing so. Instead, stick to principles of good page layout, design and compelling content:

Do as You're Told

If the job advertisement or other communications from the recruiter ask you to include specific information in your CV, make sure you do so in a prominent position, so it's easy to see at a glance.

For example, you might be asked to include a short personal statement. If so, don't bury it at the bottom of page two. You don't often get direct instructions from the employer about how to lay out the perfect CV, so pay attention and get it right when you do.

Font Size and Emphasis

Use a larger font size for your name and make sure it is not too cluttered by other page content. You want it to stand out and stick in the memory of the recruiter.

If you want to highlight certain words or phrases, consider using a bold font to help them stand out, without breaking up the flow of your text.

Filename and Format

If you're submitting your CV electronically, e.g. as a Word document or a PDF, give it a descriptive filename that includes your full name, so it's more difficult for the recruiter to misplace.

Try to learn the basics of how to save your CV as a PDF. You can get free tools to do this, which add 'Save as PDF' as a virtual printer in your Print settings. Take a look at the options when printing to PDF, such as embedding any non-standard fonts so that your document displays correctly on other computers.

CV Formatting Tips and Tricks

CV formatting is about how your CV looks, not about what it says. Lots of different aspects of the page design come together to determine how your CV is formatted.

To finish off this guide to the perfect CV layout, let's look at some CV formatting tips and tricks that can ensure your application has the aesthetic appeal necessary to catch the eye of the most discerning of hiring managers.

Keep it Clean

First and foremost, a clean and simple design is best. Clutter on the page will only make it harder for the interviewer to find the information they need about you, so take a minimalistic approach to the way you format the page.

Black and White

If you get through to the interview stage, it's likely that the interviewer will print a copy of your CV, probably on a monochrome laser office printer. Make sure your formatting will print well, by favouring black and white, without background images.

Basic Borders

You might not need to use borders at all, but if you want to demarcate the different sections of your CV, do it with quite basic straight lines, nothing too fussy or frilly. Patterned borders have their place but it's not on a CV, where you want to make it as easy as possible to ignore the formatting and focus on the content at a glance.

Sans Serif

For the same reasons, sans serif fonts are worth considering. These are highly legible for headings and body text alike, and there's an endless variety to choose from. Some modern typefaces have very subtle serifs, for a best of both worlds effect, so if your heart is set on using a serif font, you can still keep it subtle.

One Font Only

Try to use the same typeface for your entire CV. Or if you must use more than one, choose a display font for your headings and subheadings, and a subtle serif font for your body text. Don't keep switching between three or four (or more) different fonts, as your CV will quickly start to look chaotic.

Summing Up

Your CV should represent you at a glance, and it's only right that its layout should portray your personal tastes too. But it's equally important to show your preferences in the best possible light, and that means a crisp layout that prioritises the most relevant information.

Avoid the temptation to do anything too crazy with your page design, unless you choose to gamble on this grabbing the attention of a busy hiring manager. In general, plenty of white space, consistent fonts and text sizes, and minimal graphic elements (such as borders) will all help your CV to make a good impression.