UK CV guide: format, evidence and common mistakes

Start with the UK application

A UK CV should make the connection between your experience and the person specification easy to follow. Start with a short professional profile, then relevant skills, employment and education. Use British spelling consistently, including programme or organisation where appropriate.

For a commercial application, prioritise recent achievements over an exhaustive career history. A concise two-page structure can be a useful starting point, but academic applications and an employer's explicit instructions can call for something different. Remove personal information that does not help establish your suitability.

Check the format before writing

A Civil Service supporting statement or an employer application form is a separate deliverable from a CV. Collect the criteria and word limits before requesting a quote. The CV can establish your experience; a supporting statement needs evidence that answers the questions being assessed.

Use conventional section headings and selectable text. Keep the reading order straightforward, and check that contact details survive a plain-text copy of the file. Submit the file type the employer requests. There is no universal ATS score or layout that guarantees shortlisting.

Turn a duty into useful evidence

An operations candidate could replace a list of branch duties with an account of the service issue, the sites involved and the measured improvement, using only verified figures.

For each important claim, record the context, your own action and a result you can explain. When a numerical result is unavailable, use a concrete outcome such as a completed implementation, a resolved issue or an approved process. The purpose is accuracy and relevance, not a number in every sentence.

Before you submit

• Match the target title to your actual capabilities.
• Check employer names, dates and qualification details.
• Explain unfamiliar employers or project settings briefly.
• Remove claims you cannot support in an interview.
• Check links, spelling, file format and any separate application questions.

When professional support is useful

A rewrite is useful when your experience is strong but its relevance to the UK role is hard to see. It can also help with a change of sector or a move into leadership. Bring your existing CV, a representative vacancy and an evidence list to the profile review.

Writing cannot replace missing qualifications or experience. The service improves the clarity and positioning of the application; employers still decide which candidates progress.