UK CV Format: Two Pages, Structure and What to Leave Off

• Name and contact details – phone, a professional email address, town and postcode. No full street address.
• Personal statement – three to five lines that name the role, the sector and the strongest piece of evidence.
• Work history – reverse-chronological, employer, job title, dates, then bullets. One line on the organisation if it is not well known.
• Education and qualifications – institution, qualification, grade and year. Put this first only if you are a recent graduate or still at school.
• Skills and certifications – software, licences, professional registration, languages, each with a level attached.
• Referees – two named people with professional contact details, or referees available on request.

Leave off the photo, date of birth, marital status, nationality unless it is needed to explain a right to work statement, religion, health, and any National Insurance number. A full home address is not required either: town and postcode answer the commute question without giving away more than the process needs. Do not list every school grade if you left education more than a decade ago, and do not list hobbies that carry no evidence of skill. Interests are optional in the UK, and a single line is enough when it says something real. References go at the end or nowhere. A driving licence and a DBS status are worth a line for roles that need them, and a professional registration number belongs near the top, not buried on page two.

Use A4 with margins of about 2cm, one font at 10 to 12 point, and a single column. Section titles in bold caps, dates aligned right, bullets of one or two lines. Reverse-chronological dates read as month and year, for example March 2022 to present. Keep the design plain: most UK employers run applications through an applicant tracking system, and tables, text boxes, icons and graphics lose their structure when parsed. Send a PDF unless the advert asks for a Word document, and name the file with your full name rather than CV final version 3. Use British spelling throughout, since a mixed document looks careless to a British reader, and check that your phone number and email are correct before every send. If a portal asks you to paste the CV into a text field, look at the preview before you send: bullets often collapse and section titles lose their weight. Keep a plain Word copy so the text can be moved without the formatting.

Two pages is the standard, one page is acceptable for a first job, and three only for senior or specialist roles with a long record. Employment gaps do not need a paragraph of explanation; a single line such as career break, study or family leave closes the question without inviting more. Tailor the personal statement and the order of the bullets to each advert, mirroring the words the advert uses for the skills it asks for, because a filter and a tired reader both look for the same terms. Keep one master document with every role and achievement, then cut a version for each application. Accuracy matters more than volume: a claim that a reference check cannot support costs more than the line it fills.