CV templates: The basics of a professional CV

CV Template

Creating a professional curriculum vitae and perfecting it are must-have skills to get a job. You’ll know if the CV is a success if you land interviews; otherwise, you can work on refining it with easy-to-do steps.

Find out essential components found in the most powerful CV templates here.

Personal Information

This header contains your name, job title or profession, professional email address, phone number, and home address. Keep this section simple and updated.

Add a link to your LinkedIn profile or personal website, which can be an online project portfolio. Skip adding other social media accounts, but scrub them clean and ready for any job search nonetheless.

Summary Statement

Talk about your personal background in one hundred words or two to three sentences. Discuss your qualifications, accomplishments, experiences, and skills, which you can elaborate on in a separate section in the context of the open position.

This personal statement can also contain objectives, such as how you intend to use your skills to achieve goals while doing the job you are applying for. At best, customize it per role.

Work Experience

Your professional experience is one of the most critical aspects of your CV, and you have to get this part down pat.

  • Organize your employment history with the most recent role headlining the section.
  • Assign bullet points per entry formatted as position, company, address/city, and employment dates (month, year).
  • Allot three to eight points covering responsibilities and accomplishments under each role or maybe 40, as distributed across all jobs.
  • Use active voice, action verbs, and numbers or similar evidence to support your claims.

Education

For this section, begin with the highest education level. The key details are degree, school, and graduation date.

Including your high school diploma may not be necessary unless it’s your highest educational attainment to date.

New graduates can add their college GPAs, school achievements, and internships in lieu of work experience.

Skills

If you have so many skills, present the best ones that let you stand out:

  • Pick skills that are essential to the job.
  • Highlight skills that you have deep knowledge and experience in.
  • Cite skills that are mentioned in the job post to make it ATS-friendly.

In addition, you can include certification and training, volunteer experience, conference participation, and publication. Fresh graduates can mention hobbies that are relevant to the job as one way to fill their CVs.

CV Templates Made for You

A CV is considered a personal advertisement and should be as unique as you. With CV templates, you need not do everything from scratch; devote the time, effort, and attention to modifying the document to match the requirements of the current job application.

Whether you want to leverage your skills or experience, your CV is best when it is error-free, well-formatted, and readable.

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Julia Hurtado

Julia Hurtado

Having spent an entire summer dedicated to travelling abroad, Julia now focuses on helping other students experience life outside their home country. As an American now working in London, Julia enjoys sharing advice on interning abroad, sipping tea (with 2 sugars, 1 milk please) and reading in her spare time.

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