CV Format: Write the Best CV in 2024 (Tips & Examples)

A CV format is the foundation of your CV. It’s a document that outlines your professional background and qualifications, and a key tool that helps you to present yourself from your best side to potential employers.

A badly formatted CV will inevitably end up in the rubbish. Meanwhile, an easily readable CV with the proper format gets a prime real estate spot on the recruiter’s desk. To secure that premium spot, make your CV format impeccable. And you easily will after reading our guide.

Here, you’ll learn:

• The best simple CV format rules and best practices.
• What expertly crafted UK CV format examples look like.
• The differences between the main 3 types of CV formats, what are their advantages and when they should be used.
• Invaluable tips on creating a Curriculum Vitae format that lands interviews.

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The 3 Main CV Formats

The three main CV formats to choose from are:

• The reverse-chronological CV format
• The functional CV format
• The combination CV format

The first of these—the reverse chronological format, is the most popular among recruiters and candidates. But that doesn’t mean it’s a shoe that fits all sizes. See which CV format is good for you:

How to Choose the Best CV Format?

Each of the CV formats has specific uses. To choose the best CV format for you, ask yourself the following questions: How much experience do you have? Are you planning to pursue your current career path? Do you want to change your career? And, have you had any gaps in employment?

Depending on your answers, you should use an appropriate CV format. The table below shows you exactly which one.

	Inexperienced	Experienced	Career Change	Employment Gaps
Reverse-chronological	✔	✔
Functional		✔	✔	✔
Combination		✔	✔

Now, let’s take an in-depth look into each of the three formats for a CV:

Reverse Chronological CV Format

The reverse chronological CV format is a traditional CV layout we recommend for most CVs. It’s characterised by the order of listing your work experience, with the most recent job listed first. This UK CV format is preferred by most employers and recruiters, as it allows them to see a candidate's most recent and relevant experience quickly. And the recruiter’s perception of these things is critical in determining their decision.

This CV format is perfect for experienced workers and those making an entry-level CV. It makes it easy for employers to see your career progression and understand how you have developed your skills over time. It especially shines if you intend to continue on your current career path and work in the same or a similar field as you did previously.

Although we recommend a reverse chronological format, most of the time, not every CV format should follow its pattern. If you’re changing career paths, a reverse chronological CV format will hamper your efforts by presenting mostly irrelevant work achievements from previous jobs. It also makes it very easy for recruiters to spot gaps in your employment, and that’s never a good thing.

With a reverse chronological CV format, you should put emphasis on the work experience CV section. This is the most prominent section in this CV format and should be displayed under your CV profile.

Reverse-Chronological CV Format Template

The structure of a chronological CV is formatted this way:

• Personal information/contact details
• Professional title
• CV summary or CV objective
• Professional experience
• Education
• Skills
• Other sections

Pros & Cons of Reverse-Chronological CV Format 

Pros	Cons
Preferred and expected by most employers. Highlights your career progression and relevance to the role you’re seeking. Is the most ATS-friendly CV format.	Not suitable for career changers. Reveals employment gaps on your CV. De-emphasizes your skills.

Functional CV Format

This CV format is less common but can save you in some situations, as it is perfect for hiding gaps in your employment. It’s also very useful for experienced workers with a diverse portfolio of previous jobs in varying fields.

The functional CV format emphasises skills and qualifications instead of pure work experience. Unlike the chronological CV, the functional one prominently features the CV skills section while reducing the work experience part to just listing previous workplaces. It allows you to draw attention to specific accomplishments and achievements that may be relevant to the position you're applying for. In other words, it can be useful for highlighting transferable skills.

And when would you use this CV format? As we said earlier, the functional CV format is the best format for applicants who need to hide employment gaps and have a lot of work experience in diverse fields. It’s also great for creating a career change CV.

This CV style is much less widespread, so be prepared that many recruiters can be unfamiliar with it. On top of that, Applicant Tracking Systems (ATSs) will likely disregard your functional CV format, as it doesn’t show a consistent work history. If you’re worried about that, the reverse-chronological CV format makes for a great ATS-friendly CV.

Functional CV Format Template

The structure of a functional CV is formatted this way:

• Personal information/contact details
• Professional title
• CV summary or CV objective
• Skills summary
• Additional skills section
• Professional experience
• Education
• Other sections

Pros & Cons of Functional CV Format 

Pros	Cons
Emphasizes transferable skills. Ideal when making a career change CV and for job-seekers with employment gaps. It’s a unique format that catches the eyes of human recruiters.	Potential red flag for employers who prefer traditional CVs. Can fail an ATS scan. Employers may wonder about the chronology of your work history.

Combination CV Format

The UK combination CV format, commonly known as a hybrid CV, is created by blending the two aforementioned CV formats, and it combines the best elements of both. This results in a CV highlighting the most relevant skills and work experiences. 

A combination CV format typically starts with a summary of qualifications or a personal statement, followed by a list of skills, and then a reverse chronological listing of work experience. It is most beneficial if you have a strong track record of working in a similar field as the one you’re applying for and have relevant qualifications. So, not only does it show your experience chronologically, but also highlights your transferable skills. That’s a win-win scenario, right?

Not necessarily. For once, as an inexperienced applicant, you shouldn’t use this CV format, as you don’t have much experience and gained skills. Next, the reverse-chronological part of this CV format makes it unusable to hide gaps in employment. And the last problem? Just like the functional one, a combination CV format is uncommon, so both the ATS and the recruiters may have trouble reading it.

Our biggest advice for this CV format is to balance your skills, qualifications and work history. It ensures that all sections are equally important and each of them is equally developed.

Combination CV Format Template

The structure of a hybrid CV is formatted this way:

• Personal information/contact details
• Summary of qualifications
• Additional skills section
• Professional experience
• Education
• Other sections

Pros & Cons of Combination CV Format 

Pros	Cons
Demonstrates a clear career progression while emphasizing gained skills. Effective for career changers and workers with employment gaps who have a lot of relevant work experience. Highlights skills and qualifications upfront.	It can easily exceed the common CV length and require more effort to create. The hardest CV format for ATS scans to read. Requires careful organization to maintain clarity and balance between sections.

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How to Format a CV:

The best CV format is a simple CV format. You’re already ahead of the competition if you present a well-structured CV. So, how do you format a CV? Here are the best practices for creating a readable CV format:

• Divide your CV into easily visible CV sections.
• Include contact information at the top, but don’t include photos on your resume unless it’s a bona fide occupational qualification.
• Choose an elegant CV font, and format it correctly. Go for an 11-12 pt size for the main body, 12-14 pt for section titles, and 16 pt or more for your name.
• Keep the CV uniform. Don’t switch fonts or sizes for different parts. It will destroy your CV format.
• Try to keep your CV one page long. You can spill it to create a two-page CV, but don’t let your CV get any longer than that. If it does, consider a more compact CV layout.
• Set your spacing to 1-1.15 and the CV margins to one inch to create neatly looking white space.
• Use bullet points when listing your skills, achievements, and past work experiences on your CV.
• Save your CV in a PDF format to ensure its formatting stays the same across all programs and devices.

When it comes to CV sections, it’s important to include the most vital ones. So make sure you have these in your CV format:

• personal details
• personal profile (a CV summary or CV objective)
• work history
• education section
• CV skills
• extra sections, such as awards, publications, languages, or certificates on CV

Those sections, though, can be listed in a different order depending on the CV format of your choice.

Seems like a lot of points to remember. Fortunately, you can help yourself by using pre-formatted CV templates like the ones below:

Simple CV Format—5 Ready-to-Use CV Formats

ResumeLab’s CV templates are already pre-formatted to speed up the writing process. Check out some of our amazing templates:

1. Cubic

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Cubic is a CV format designed for confident professionals who aren’t afraid to showcase their achievements. It’s neat, organized, and can hold a ton of information without looking crowded or overwhelming.

2. Modern

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Modern uses subtle colour accents to guide the reader’s eye straight to the key sections. It's perfect for creative and professional, office based fields. No wonder this professional CV format is so popular among our users!

3. Nanica

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You just can’t go wrong with Nanica! This simple CV format is like a Zen garden: it creates a minimalist, lightweight look with lots of white space. This is one of the best CV formats for professionals who prefer sleek, distraction-free CVs.

4. Squares

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If you want a CV template that oozes confidence and authority, try Squares. It’s the ideal CV format for business jobs because it gives your application a calm yet assertive look. As a nice bonus, you also get a personal logo with your initials.

5. Vintage

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Some things never go out of style. The Vintage CV template is one of them—this professional CV format is as timeless as a power suit. It relies on subtle accents to create structure and highlight what’s important.

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Key Takeaways

To summarise, here's how to format your CV:

• Pick a CV template of your choice in our builder to make the process go much faster.
• Use a reverse-chronological format if you’re an entry-level applicant, don’t have gaps in your employment, or want to ensure your application is ATS-friendly.
• Opt for a functional CV format if you want to hide employment gaps or create a career change CV.
• Choose a combination CV format when you’re an experienced employee with no employment gaps, and you’re making a career change CV.
• Make sure all the information you put on your CV is relevant and true. The last thing you want is to get caught lying on the CV.

Got a question about CV formatting? Or maybe you want to share a CV format success story? Head over to the comments section, and let's get the conversation started!