UK CV Format: How to Write a British CV (With Example)

A UK CV is a reverse-chronological document of no more than two A4 pages with five core sections: contact details, a short personal statement, work history, education and references. It never includes a photo, your age, date of birth, marital status or nationality. British spelling throughout, and "references available on request" at the end.

The two-page limit comes from university careers services such as the University of Chester, quoted by Prospects, the UK graduate careers site. The section list and the "leave it out" list come from the government's own National Careers Service. This guide puts both into one page, with a complete example at the end.

UK CV at a Glance

The UK CV Sections, in Order

The National Careers Service lists the sections every CV needs: contact details, an introduction, education history, work history and references. Most British CVs add a skills section and, where useful, certifications, languages or interests. The usual order for someone with work experience:

1. Contact details
2. Personal statement
3. Key skills (optional, useful for career changers and technical roles)
4. Work experience
5. Education
6. Additional sections: professional qualifications, languages, volunteering, interests
7. References

If you are a student, a school leaver or a recent graduate, the National Careers Service suggests putting education straight after the introduction, then moving it below work history once your experience is the stronger evidence.

1. Contact details

Name, phone number, email address and a link to LinkedIn or a portfolio if you have one. A town or city is enough; a full postal address is optional. Do not use "Curriculum Vitae" as a heading: your name is the heading.

SARAH OKAFOR
Leeds | 07700 900123 | sarah.okafor@email.co.uk | linkedin.com/in/sarahokafor

Use a UK mobile number if you have one. If you are applying from abroad, add the country code: +44 7700 900123.

2. Personal statement

A personal statement is three or four lines that say who you are professionally, what you are good at and what you are looking for. Prospects describes it as a concise statement of your key attributes, a few relevant achievements and your career aims. Write it in the first or third person, without "I" at the start of every sentence.

Weak:

Hardworking and enthusiastic team player looking for a new challenge where I can use my skills.

Strong:

Chartered management accountant (CIMA) with six years in manufacturing finance. Rebuilt the monthly reporting pack for a three-site business and cut month-end close from ten working days to six. Looking for a finance business partner role in a growing FMCG company.

The strong version names a qualification, a sector, one concrete result and a target role. That is the whole job of the statement.

3. Key skills

A short list of the skills the job advert asks for, in the advert's own words. Group them if the list is long:

KEY SKILLS
Financial reporting (IFRS, FRS 102) • Budgeting and forecasting
Power BI and advanced Excel • Sage 200 and SAP S/4HANA
Stakeholder management • Process improvement

4. Work experience

Most recent job first. For each role: job title, employer, town, dates, and two to five bullet points about what you achieved. The National Careers Service suggests the STAR method (situation, task, action, result) to keep each point concrete.

Finance Business Partner
Northwood Foods Ltd, Bradford                          Apr 2022 – present
• Partner the operations director on a £14m cost base across two sites
• Introduced weekly waste reporting that the plant now uses in daily
  production meetings
• Led the finance workstream of a Sage-to-SAP migration, delivered on
  the planned go-live date

Use "Ltd" and "plc" as the employer writes them, months as words ("Apr 2022"), and British spelling in every bullet.

5. Education

List your highest qualification first. For degrees, give the classification: First, 2:1 (upper second), 2:2 (lower second) or Third. Recent graduates can add relevant modules and a dissertation title; everyone else can drop to one line per qualification.

BA (Hons) Accounting and Finance, 2:1
University of Leeds                                            2014 – 2017

A levels: Mathematics (A), Economics (A), Business Studies (B)

GCSEs matter only for school leavers and for jobs that ask for them ("GCSE English and maths at grade 4 or above"). Experienced candidates can leave them off.

Qualifications from outside the UK: do not convert your grade into a British classification yourself. Write the qualification as awarded, with the scale ("Bachelor of Commerce, University of Mumbai, 68%, First Class"), and if an employer needs to know the UK level, get a Statement of Comparability from UK ENIC, the UK's national agency for recognising international qualifications.

6. Additional sections

• Professional qualifications: ACCA, CIMA, CIPD, PRINCE2, CSCS card. For many UK jobs these matter more than the degree, so give them their own heading near the top if they are a requirement.
• Languages: "French (fluent), Polish (native)". Add CEFR levels (B2, C1) if you have them.
• Volunteering: treat it like a job entry when it shows relevant skills.
• Interests: the National Careers Service suggests interests only when they show a skill, such as captaining a sports team. "Reading and socialising" adds nothing.

7. References

Do not put your referees' names and contact details on the CV. The National Careers Service says to write "references are available on request" instead. Prospects adds that most employers assume this anyway, so you can drop the line when you are short of space.

What Never Goes on a UK CV

The National Careers Service says not to include your age, date of birth, marital status or nationality. Prospects adds that you don't need a photo unless you are applying for acting or modelling work. The reason is the Equality Act 2010, which makes it unlawful to discriminate because of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race (including nationality), religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. Employers would rather not see any of that before an interview.

Also leave off:

• Your National Insurance number
• Salary history or expectations, unless the advert asks for them
• Reasons for leaving each job
• Unexplained abbreviations from other countries' education systems

Right to Work: The One Personal Line Worth Adding

Every UK employer has to check that you have the right to work before you start, either from original documents such as a passport or through a Home Office share code. If your right to work is not obvious from your career history, one line under your contact details saves a recruiter's question:

• "Right to work in the UK: British citizen"
• "Right to work in the UK: EU Settlement Scheme, settled status"
• "Right to work in the UK: Graduate visa, valid to August 2027"
• "Will require Skilled Worker visa sponsorship"

This is not the same as listing your nationality: you are answering an employment question, not describing yourself.

British Spelling and Terms

A UK recruiter notices American spelling at once. The most common fixes:

Set your word processor's language to English (UK) before you edit. If you are starting from an American resume, our US resume to UK CV conversion guide has the full step-by-step list, including education and job-title conversions.

Full UK CV Example

A complete two-page CV for a fictional finance professional, laid out the way UK employers expect.

SARAH OKAFOR
Leeds | 07700 900123 | sarah.okafor@email.co.uk | linkedin.com/in/sarahokafor

PERSONAL STATEMENT
Chartered management accountant (CIMA) with six years in manufacturing
finance. Rebuilt the monthly reporting pack for a three-site business and
cut month-end close from ten working days to six. Looking for a finance
business partner role in a growing FMCG company.

KEY SKILLS
Financial reporting (IFRS, FRS 102) • Budgeting and forecasting
Power BI and advanced Excel • Sage 200 and SAP S/4HANA
Stakeholder management • Process improvement

WORK EXPERIENCE

Finance Business Partner
Northwood Foods Ltd, Bradford                          Apr 2022 – present
• Partner the operations director on a £14m cost base across two sites
• Introduced weekly waste reporting now used in daily production meetings
• Led the finance workstream of a Sage-to-SAP migration, delivered on the
  planned go-live date
• Coach two assistant accountants through their CIMA studies

Management Accountant
Pennine Packaging plc, Huddersfield                   Sep 2019 – Mar 2022
• Owned month-end for three manufacturing sites
• Rebuilt the board reporting pack in Power BI; month-end close went from
  ten working days to six
• Prepared the annual budget and quarterly reforecasts

Assistant Accountant
Pennine Packaging plc, Huddersfield                   Sep 2017 – Aug 2019
• Processed purchase ledger and bank reconciliations for two entities
• Supported the external audit and prepared lead schedules

EDUCATION
BA (Hons) Accounting and Finance, 2:1
University of Leeds                                            2014 – 2017

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
Chartered Global Management Accountant (CIMA), 2021

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Languages: English (native), Yoruba (conversational)
Volunteering: Treasurer, Headingley Community Food Bank (2023 – present)
Driving licence: Full UK

References available on request.

What makes it work: the statement names a qualification and a measurable result, every job has achievements rather than duties, the education is one line because the experience now carries the CV, and there is nothing a UK employer has asked candidates not to send.

Graduate and School-Leaver CVs

With little work history, flip the order: education straight after the personal statement, then projects, part-time jobs and volunteering. One page is enough. Include your degree classification (or predicted grade), A levels, and any GCSE grades the employer asks for. Part-time retail or hospitality work belongs on the CV: it shows reliability, customer service and time management, and the National Careers Service explicitly says to include work placements, volunteering and paid jobs.

Common UK CV Mistakes

1. Going over two pages for anything other than an academic or very senior role.
2. Including a photo, date of birth or nationality. All three are on the National Careers Service's list of things to leave out.
3. American spelling and US Letter paper.
4. A generic personal statement that could belong to anyone.
5. Listing referees' phone numbers on the CV.
6. Converting foreign grades into a British classification you were never awarded.
7. Duties instead of results in work history.

Build Your UK CV in ResumeFast

The ResumeFast resume builder uses A4 paper by default, lets you rename the References section or leave it out, and keeps the photo, date of birth and nationality fields empty unless you fill them. Building is free, and your first PDF or Word download is free too. Plain text downloads are always free; after that first file, PDF and Word are part of Pro at $6.95 a month, billed monthly, no trial, cancel anytime.

Check your CV against the job advert with the free keyword matcher, then write the covering letter with the free cover letter builder.

Related Guides

• International CV guide: how the UK compares with Europe, the Gulf, Asia and Africa, with links to every country guide.
• US resume to UK CV: the conversion checklist for American applicants.
• Cover letter guide: structure and examples for the covering letter UK employers often ask for.