Curriculum Vitae: What a CV Is and How to Write One

CV stands for curriculum vitae. Wikipedia glosses the Latin as "course of life," which is a good description of what the document does: it tells the story of your working life in a structured, scannable way. The plural is curricula vitae, though most people simply say "CVs."

The UK graduate careers service Prospects defines it simply: "A CV is a document used when applying for jobs." It adds that "in other countries, such as the USA and Canada, CVs are known as résumés," and that those documents "tend to be more concise and follow no particular formatting rules."

So when someone asks "what is a CV," the honest answer depends on where they are applying. In the UK and many other countries it is the standard job application document. In North America it is mostly used for academic, research and medical roles, where a fuller record of publications, teaching and grants is expected.

Sources for these rows: Prospects and nidirect for UK length and content, Harvard's career office for US resumes ("Don't include a picture"), and Unicode CLDR locale data for paper sizes. If you are applying to the US, the resume builder defaults to US Letter; for everywhere else, the CV maker defaults to A4. Both let you switch.

The UK National Careers Service says "your CV should include a section for your contact details, an introduction," followed by education history, work history and references. Prospects lists a similar set and adds skills and, optionally, interests. A practical order for most people:

1. Name and contact details. nidirect advises you to "put your name at the top of the page," not the words "curriculum vitae" or "CV." Add your phone, email and city.
2. Personal profile. Three or four lines on who you are, your key strengths and what you are looking for. Prospects calls it "a concise statement that highlights your key attributes."
3. Work experience. Most recent job first. nidirect: "Always put your most recent job first and remember to include dates."
4. Education and qualifications. Also most recent first. Put this above experience if you are a student or recent graduate.
5. Skills. Languages, software, certifications and other skills the job asks for.
6. Interests (optional). Only if they add something relevant.
7. References. The National Careers Service says "you should not put someone else's contact details on your CV"; you can write that references are available on request.

Some details that once appeared on every CV are now discouraged, at least in the UK and US:

• Date of birth, age, marital status and nationality. The National Careers Service: "You should not include your age, your date of birth, whether you're married or your nationality." nidirect agrees: "You do not need to put your date of birth, age, or salary on your CV."
• A photo. Prospects quotes a careers team saying that "unless you're applying for an acting or modelling job you don't need to include a photograph." Harvard lists "Include a picture" under resume don'ts.
• Salary. nidirect lists it among details you do not need.
• Referee contact details. Give them when asked, not on the CV.
• Irrelevant detail. Prospects: "Everything you include must be relevant to the company and role you're applying for."

Customs differ in other countries. Some employers in parts of Europe and Asia still expect a photo or date of birth. If the job ad or local practice asks for them, follow that; otherwise, leave them out. The CV format guide covers country differences in more detail.

For most jobs, two A4 pages at most. nidirect says to "aim for no more than two pages," and the University of Chester careers team, quoted by Prospects, recommends that "CVs are no longer than two A4 pages." The same source adds that student CVs for part-time jobs may be shorter and "academic CVs slightly longer."

If you are over the limit, nidirect's advice is to "compress earlier roles into short descriptions or just include job titles." If you are well under one page, add part-time, temporary or voluntary work; nidirect notes these count as experience that "added to your skills set."

1. Collect the facts. Job titles, employers, dates, qualifications and two or three achievements for each role.
2. Read the job ad. Note the skills and experience it asks for; these decide what goes near the top.
3. Write the profile last. It is easier to summarize once the rest is on the page.
4. Describe results, not just duties. "Trained six new staff in stock control" says more than "responsible for training."
5. Format for reading. Prospects suggests a clear font "such as Arial, Calibri or Times New Roman," body text "between 10 and 12," and headings "font size 14 or 16 and bold."
6. Proofread and tailor. nidirect advises asking someone to proofread it. Adjust the profile and skills for each job.

For a deeper walk-through of the writing itself (verbs, bullet points, summaries), the guide to writing a resume applies equally to CVs. To see finished CVs, browse the CV examples or start from a CV template.

Reverse chronological is the safest default; both nidirect and Prospects describe listing experience with the most recent first. The Europass CV is a free tool from the European Commission; its site says it "is one of the best-known CV formats in Europe" and that you "will first have to create your Europass profile." Letter and CV is not affiliated with Europass.

Many employers receive CVs through an applicant tracking system (ATS) that reads the text into a candidate profile. Greenhouse, a widely used ATS, lists causes of failed parsing including "graphics, photos, or word art," "complex resumes with tables, headers, and footers," and files "uploaded as an image." Its candidate FAQ says "Upload a PDF for best results."

That is why the PDFs from this site contain real, selectable text rather than an image of your CV. The full checklist is in the ATS-friendly resume guide, and the way we test our own PDFs is described on the ATS test method page.

nidirect calls it "good manners and professional courtesy to enclose a covering letter with your CV." The letter explains why you want this job and points to the parts of your CV that matter for it. Read what a cover letter is, or go straight to the cover letter generator.