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CV

A one-page CV template, and how recruiters read each part

The layout UK graduate recruiters expect for spring weeks, internships, placements and graduate schemes. Download it, fill it in with the notes below, then rate it against the firm before it goes out. Free, no sign-up.

Download the template (.docx)Rate a CV you already have

Opens in Word, Google Docs and Pages. Plain styles, one page, no columns or tables that applicant tracking systems trip over.

How to fill it in

  1. 1Name and contact details

    • Your name, the town you live in, one phone number, one email and your LinkedIn.
    • Use a professional email address: your university one, or firstname.lastname.
    • Set a custom LinkedIn URL and make sure the profile says the same as the CV.
    • Leave out a photo, your date of birth and your full address. Your town is enough.

  2. 2Education

    • Most recent first. University, degree, dates, then your predicted or expected classification.
    • Two or three modules relevant to the role, with marks where they help.
    • A Levels (or equivalent) with each grade. GCSEs can be one line: 10 GCSEs at grades 9 to 7 including Maths and English.
    • Spring weeks and insight days go here or under experience, not both.

  3. 3Experience

    • Start each bullet with a verb and end it with the result. Numbers wherever you have them.
    • Part-time jobs count. A till job that trained new starters says more than a title.
    • Two to four bullets a role; the most recent role gets the most.

    Weak

    Responsible for social media.

    Strong

    Grew the society's Instagram from 400 to 1,200 followers in one term.

  4. 4Positions of responsibility

    • Committee roles in societies and sports clubs, volunteering, anything you ran.
    • Same rule as experience: what you did and what came of it.

  5. 5Skills and interests

    • Languages with a level: native, fluent or conversational.
    • Software you could be tested on: Excel, Python, PowerPoint, anything from the posting.
    • Interests that say something: half-marathon runner over sport, chess club captain over chess.

  6. 6Programming languages and tools

    • Optional, for technology and quant roles.
    • Only list what you could answer questions on in an interview.

Then keep track of every version

One CV per sector, rewritten as the season goes. The tracker remembers which one each firm read and which one gets furthest.

Keep every version

Name versions by sector and month, such as Finance, Oct. Your Documents tab holds up to ten, ready to attach to any application.

Record which one you sent

On each application's Docs, pick the version the firm read. Three months on, when the interview invite lands, you will know what they are looking at.

See which version works

Your statistics show how far applications sent with each version get: past screening, to interview, to an offer. Retire the ones that stall at the first screen.

Rate each version before it goes out

The CV Rater scores a version against the firm you are applying to, with the three things to fix first. Free, every day.

Manage your CVsTailor a CV to a posting