CV Format in the UK
3 min read·Updated 2 Nov 2025
UK CV conventions are fairly settled, and departing from them without reason tends to work against you. The document is short, personal details are minimal, and the emphasis is on recent, relevant achievement.
The most consequential differences from other markets are the absence of a photograph and the absence of personal characteristics such as date of birth — both of which are deliberate, and both of which are about equality law rather than taste.
The basics
- Length: two pages. One page for graduates, three only for academic or clinical CVs.
- Photo: no. Some employers anonymise or discard applications containing one.
- Personal details: name, phone, email, and city. Not your full address, date of birth, nationality, marital status or a photograph.
- Order: personal details, short profile, work experience, education, skills. Education moves above experience only for recent graduates.
- Dates: month and year, most recent first. Be consistent about the format throughout.
- References: do not list them, and do not write "available on request". Employers will ask when they need them.
Qualifications
Give your degree classification — First, 2:1, 2:2 — because a great many employers still screen on it, particularly for graduate schemes and professional services.
A-levels and GCSEs are worth including for the first few years of a career and can be dropped once you have substantial work experience. Where you do include them, grades matter more than subjects for most employers.
Professional qualifications belong near the top if they are a requirement for the role: ACCA, ACA, CIMA, CIPD, PRINCE2, chartered status and so on.
Right to work
If your right to work in the UK is not obvious from your history, state it plainly in one line — for example, "Right to work in the UK, no sponsorship required".
This saves a great deal of time on both sides. Recruiters filter heavily on it, and an ambiguous application is often set aside rather than queried.
Language and tone
- Use British spellings: organisation, specialise, analyse, programme (for a scheme), licence (noun).
- Write in the implied first person — no "I", no third person.
- Understatement travels better than overstatement in most British workplaces. Specific facts do the persuading; adjectives do not.
- Avoid American job-title conventions if they do not exist here. "Sophomore", "GPA" and "major" mean nothing to most UK readers.
What differs from the US
- Length: two pages is standard here, one page is standard there.
- The word "resume" is rarely used in UK adverts.
- GPA is not used; degree classification is the equivalent.
- Both markets discourage photos, but UK anonymisation practices are more widespread.
What differs from continental Europe
- No photo, where much of Europe expects one.
- No date of birth or nationality.
- Less emphasis on structured, standardised layouts.
- Language levels are worth stating on the CEFR scale, but are less central than in EU applications.
Questions
Should I include a cover letter?
Do I need to explain a career break?
Is a personal statement the same as a profile?
Put this into practice
The editor keeps your CV as structured content, so the section order and wording decisions in this guide are easy to apply and easy to change again.