CV examples and templates by level, and how to use them properly

Templates are useful and dangerous in equal measure. Useful, because a good one stops you making structural mistakes. Dangerous, because they encourage you to fill boxes rather than make an argument.

What every good CV has in common

Whatever the level, the same four things appear in the same order: contact details, a summary of three or four lines, experience with achievements rather than duties, and education with skills underneath. The differences between a student CV and an executive CV are length, emphasis and vocabulary — not structure.

Student and graduate

One page. Education above experience. Projects, dissertations and part-time work carry the weight.

Summary shape: "Final-year [subject] student at [university], applying for [role]. [One specific proof of capability.]"

Each entry gets two or three bullets. Nothing about school once you have a degree.

Early career, three to five years

One page, moving to two. Experience above education. The first role out of university can be compressed; the current one gets the space.

The test: a hiring manager should be able to tell what you specialise in, not just that you have been employed.

Manager

Two pages. Scale matters — team size, budget, geography, number of sites. Each role should show one thing you changed, not a list of what you oversaw.

Summary shape: "Operations manager with eight years in food manufacturing, running two sites and 60 staff. Cut line downtime by 18% through a maintenance schedule I introduced across both plants."

Senior and executive

Two pages, occasionally three. The reader is looking for scope and outcomes: P&L size, transformation delivered, markets entered, people developed. Fewer, bigger bullets. Six strong lines for a five-year tenure beats twenty small ones.

Avoid: a page of responsibilities, a list of every client, and any adjective that is not backed by a number.

Career changer

Two pages. Summary states the transition plainly and gives the reason in one clause. Experience is reordered so the most transferable achievements come first, and the previous sector's depth is kept — it is the reason you are credible.

Templates: what to check before you use one

1. One column. If the template has a sidebar, it will cost you in an ATS.
2. Standard section headings.
3. Real text, not text boxes. Placeholders inside shapes cannot be edited by parsers.
4. Editable file. Word, or a document tool that exports clean text.
5. Restraint. If the template uses three colours and two fonts for a warehouse supervisor job, it is the wrong template.

A simple CV well written beats a modern CV written badly, every time. The template is a container; the interview comes from the contents.

How to use an example without copying it

Take the structure, not the sentences. If an example bullet reads "Increased newsletter sign-ups by 45% through a rebuilt landing page", your version must contain your number and your page — or be dropped. Copied bullets are the easiest thing in the world for an experienced reader to spot, because they never contain the awkward specifics of a real job.

If you want the structure done for you

Our improver takes your existing content and returns it in a clean, correctly ordered, single-column CV, with the wording rebuilt around what you actually did. You see the whole document before paying, and it downloads as both a PDF and an editable Word file — from £0.99, once.

Start with your own CV