A UK CV is two pages, in reverse chronological order, with no photo and no personal details beyond how to reach you. Below is the standard layout, a free template you can copy, real before-and-after examples, and the mistakes that quietly sink good applications.
Standard section order
- 01
Header. Name, city, email, phone, LinkedIn (optional).
- 02
Personal statement / profile. 3-4 lines.
- 03
Work experience. Reverse chronological.
- 04
Education and qualifications.
- 05
Professional registration / credentials. NMC, GMC, HCPC, QTS, ACCA, CIMA, for regulated roles.
- 06
Skills. Short line, role-relevant.
- 07
References. "Available on request", or omit entirely (most UK employers ask separately).
Copy-paste template
Paste this into a blank Word or Google Docs file and fill in the brackets. Single column, plain text, nothing an applicant tracking system can trip over.
Firstname Lastname City, UK | firstname.lastname@email.com | 07xxx xxx xxx linkedin.com/in/yourname PERSONAL STATEMENT [Job title] with [N] years in [sector]. [Your strongest skill or specialism, one sentence]. Looking for [target role] in [sector or setting]. WORK EXPERIENCE Job Title | Employer | City | Mar 2022 to Present - [Action verb] [what you did], [measurable result where you have one] - [Use a phrase from the job advert you are applying to] - [3 to 5 bullets per recent role] Previous Job Title | Employer | City | Jul 2019 to Feb 2022 - [Bullet] - [Bullet] EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS BSc [Subject], University | 2015 to 2018 [Professional registration: QTS, NMC PIN, ACCA, GMC] | Year SKILLS [Skill 1], [Skill 2], [Skill 3], [Skill 4], [Skill 5] REFERENCES Available on request
Rather not do it by hand? Paste a job description and your old CV and Sausage Dog fills this in for you, tuned to the role.
What to include
Name and contact details (top of page 1).
Personal statement / profile (3-4 lines).
Work experience (reverse chronological).
Education and qualifications.
Skills (single line, separated by · or ,).
Certifications, professional registration (NMC, GMC, QTS).
References "available on request", or omit entirely.
What to skip
Photo (UK convention).
Date of birth.
Marital status.
Religion / nationality (unless right-to-work needs explaining).
Salary expectations (save for offer stage).
Hobbies, unless directly relevant.
Tables, columns, or sidebars (ATS-hostile).
Icons or emoji as bullets.
Skill bars / star ratings.
Why a UK CV leaves so much off
The photo, the date of birth, the marital status: none of it is banned, but leaving it off is the UK norm, and the reason is the Equality Act 2010. The Act makes it unlawful to discriminate on age, sex, race, religion, disability and several other protected characteristics. A CV that states them hands a shortlister information they are not allowed to act on, so a careful employer would rather not receive it, and many say so in their guidance.
So a UK CV is judged on evidence a reviewer can legally use: what you have done and how well. Give your name, a way to reach you and your city, and stop there. The one exception is right to work. If your status needs a word of explanation, a short line is fine, and everything else about you stays off the page.
British conventions that quietly matter
A CV can have every section in the right order and still read as foreign. These are the small British defaults a UK reviewer expects without thinking about it.
- Dates
- Write dates the British way, day then month then year: 23/08/2026, not 08/23/2026. In your work history, month and year is enough: "Mar 2022 to Present".
- Spelling
- Use British spelling throughout: organise, not organize; centre, not center; programme for a scheme, program only for software. A reviewer notices an American CV in a British pile, and so does a spell-check set to en-GB.
- Paper size
- Set the document to A4, not US Letter. Letter is shorter and wider, so a CV built on it prints with the wrong margins here and can push your second page onto a third.
- Currency and units
- Quote figures in pounds and use UK terms: "£40k budget", "GCSEs", "A-levels", "NVQ". Convert any foreign salary or qualification into its nearest UK equivalent so a reviewer does not have to.
One page or two?
Two pages is the UK default, and it is what most employers expect for anyone with a few years behind them. One page is not more professional here, and squeezing a full career onto it usually means cutting the evidence that wins the interview.
Use one page if you are a school leaver, a recent graduate, or have under about three years of experience and would be padding to reach a second. Use two for most working professionals. Go to three only for academic or research CVs, where a full publication list is expected, and for some senior clinical or executive roles.
Whatever the length, fill the pages you use. A second page with three lines on it looks unfinished; either tighten to one page or earn the second. The full CV length guide works through the edge cases.
Font and visual rules
Body text 10-11pt, headings 12-14pt.
Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman, or Helvetica. Nothing decorative.
Single-column layout. No sidebars, no columns, no tables for layout.
Hyphen or dot bullets. No icons, no emoji.
Plain dates: "Mar 2022 to Present".
Black ink on white background for print. One subtle accent colour at most.
Weak vs strong, side by side
Personal statement
A hardworking and dynamic team player with a passion for delivering results in fast-paced environments.
Registered nurse with 6 years on acute medical wards. Led the ward falls-reduction project, cutting incidents by 30% in a year. Looking for a Band 6 role in elderly care.
Work experience bullet
Responsible for handling customer queries and other duties as required.
Handled 60+ customer calls a day, resolving 90% at first contact and keeping satisfaction above 4.6 out of 5.
The strong version names a real number and a real outcome. That is the hard part, and it is what a tailored rewrite pulls out of your existing experience.
Six mistakes to avoid
Two columns or a sidebar. It looks designed, but many applicant tracking systems read it out of order or drop half of it.
A skills bar or a five-star rating. It means nothing to a reader and parses as noise.
The same CV sent to every job. The format can stay fixed, but the wording should match each advert.
A creative-template PDF from Canva. Fine for a design portfolio, risky for a parser.
Burying recent, relevant experience below education or an unrelated older job.
One giant block of text with no clear sections. Reviewers scan for about 7 seconds before deciding to read on.
UK CV vs other formats
| Feature | UK CV | US résumé | EU (Europass) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Length | 2 pages | 1 page | 3+ pages |
| Photo | No | Sometimes | Yes |
| Date of birth | No | No | Yes |
| Style | Specific, evidence-led | Summary-led, brief | Structured template |
| Salary expectations | No | Sometimes | No |
Skip the reformatting. Paste one job, get a UK-ready CV.
Upload your current CV and paste the job advert. Sausage Dog rewrites it in the format above, two pages, no photo, single column, and weaves in the wording that specific role uses, so it reads well to both a human and an applicant tracking system. Your real experience stays exactly as it is. Free tier covers three a day.
Frequently asked
Is a UK CV different from a US résumé?+
Yes. UK CVs are typically 2 pages, no photo, no date of birth, no marital status, sections in reverse chronological order, and lean into specific accomplishments rather than corporate buzzwords. US résumés are usually 1 page, may include a photo, often summary-led.
Should I include a photo on a UK CV?+
No. UK convention is no photo. Including one can trigger unconscious-bias concerns at the shortlisting stage and many UK employers actively discourage it. The exception is some creative roles (acting, modelling).
Should I include date of birth?+
No. UK age-discrimination law makes this unnecessary and most employers would prefer you didn't. Same for nationality unless your right to work needs explaining.
What font and size?+
Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman, or Helvetica at 10-11pt body, 12-14pt headings. Avoid fancy fonts (Bebas, Garamond Italic). They parse badly and look gimmicky.
How do I format dates?+
Month plus year both for start and end: "Mar 2022 to Present" or "Jul 2019 to Feb 2022". Avoid "2022-Now" (some parsers struggle) and avoid "2022-23" without months.
PDF or Word?+
Send a PDF unless the job advert or an applicant tracking system asks for Word (.docx). PDF keeps your layout intact everywhere. Keep a Word copy for the odd portal that rejects PDFs, and never send a scanned or image-based file: the text has to be selectable so it can be read and searched.
How many bullet points per job?+
Three to five for recent roles, one or two for older ones. Lead each with a verb and put a number in wherever you honestly have one. Older than about ten years can be a single line or dropped.
Should I change my CV for each job?+
Yes, and it is the single biggest lever most people ignore. The format stays the same, but the profile line, the skills, and which bullets you lead with should mirror the specific job advert. That is exactly what Sausage Dog does: you paste the job description, and it rewrites your existing CV in UK format with the right wording, keeping every real detail.
Should a UK CV be one page or two?+
Two pages is the UK default and is right for most professionals. Use one page only if you are a school leaver, a recent graduate, or have under about three years of experience. Use three pages only for academic, research or some senior clinical and executive roles. One page is not more professional in the UK, and cramming a full career onto it usually cuts the evidence that gets you shortlisted.
Does a UK CV use British or American spelling?+
British. Write organise not organize, centre not center, and programme for a scheme (program only for software). Set your spell-check to English (UK). Dates go day first, 23/08/2026, and the document should be A4 rather than US Letter. Small things, but a reviewer notices an American-looking CV in a British pile.