Basic CV template

If you want to impress employers and land job interviews, you need an effective CV.

Writing a CV from scratch can be challenging, so I’ve provided some basic CV templates to give you a head start.

I’ve also included 8 example CVs for various industries and career stages, so that you can see exactly what content needs to be included in your CV.

Remember that simplicity is key to a good CV to ensure it easy to read, and looks professional.

 

 

Basic CV template – Administrator

Basic CV-1


Basic CV-2

 

Key selling points of this CV

The profile catches the attention of busy recruiters and hiring managers, because it is short, sharp, and packed with valuable administration skills and knowledge. The candidate shows the types of environments they have worked in, admin duties they can perform, and explains how their work benefits employers.

The role descriptions are well structured with an intro that outlines the role and the nature of the employer’s work – followed by short bullet points which showcase important skills whilst detailing who the candidate interacts with in the business.

Quick tip: If you worry that your spelling and grammar might not be correct, try using our quick-and-easy CV Builder to eliminate the risk of making mistakes.

Quantified achievements are also highlighted to prove the value this candidate can bring to future roles.

 

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Basic CV template – Customer facing role

Basic customer CV-1


Basic Customer CV-2

 

Key selling points of this CV

The profile is positioned at the top of the CV, and is an introductory paragraph which summarises the candidate’s experience in customer facing settings, detailing the industries they have worked in, types of customers they deal with, and core customer service skills and knowledge.

The role descriptions are well structured and easy to read with an outline that builds context by detailing the work of the employer and where the candidate sits within the business. They then showcase their workplace abilities by listing their responsibilities in concise bullet points which are easy for recruiters to digest.

Overall the CV (curriculum vitae) gives hiring managers an excellent insight into how this candidate applies their customer service skills and expertise to benefit any potential employers.

 

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Basic CV template – Junior / School leaver

Basic School Leaver CV

 

Key selling points of this CV

The profile or personal statement is a difficult part of your CV to complete as a school leaver – especially if you have no experience. This candidate highlights their educational qualifications alongside transferable workplace skills, and demonstrates any achievements they have made in and outside of school.

They also make clear the industry they are trying to enter, and give reasons why they are passionate about it.

The role descriptions are important, even though the candidate only has part time experience. They are well structured and broken up with bullet points to ensure ease of reading, and the content highlights transferable workplace skills and the ability to contribute to a team setting.

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Basic CV template – Accounting & finance

Basic finance CV-1

Basic finance CV-2

 

Key selling points of this CV

The profile catches the attention of busy recruiters by selling the candidate’s most important finance skills and summarising the type of companies and finance functions they have experience in. It highlights their important qualifications and is kept short and sharp to get the message across quickly during those vital first few seconds of the CV being opened.

The role descriptions are headed with outlines to describe who the candidate worked for and what the overall goal of the candidate’s role was. Bullet pointed responsibilities make the candidates activities and skills easy to navigate, and the roles are rounded of with key achievements that relate to financial benefits for the business.

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Basic CV template – IT

Basic CV template - IT-1

Basic CV template - IT-2

 

Key selling points of this CV

The profile is a great way of grabbing recruiters’ attention by summarising the candidate’s most valuable IT skills and showing how they are applied to benefit employers. There is a good mix of technical terms as well as non-IT skills to show the candidate is balanced, understands business needs and is able to work in varied environments.

The role descriptions make it easy for readers to navigate them and pick out the information they need. Each role is headed with an intro to describe the employer’s business and where the candidate sits within the firm. Bullet pointed responsibilities detail the technical environment they work in, and how they apply their IT and business skills to benefit the running of the organisation.

Quick tip: If you worry that your spelling and grammar might not be correct, try using our quick-and-easy CV Builder to eliminate the risk of making mistakes.

Highlighted achievements show quantified examples of the candidate making a big impact on the employer.

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Basic CV template – Project manager

Basic Project Manager CV 1

Basic Project Manager CV 2

 

Key selling points of this CV

The profile gives recruiters a great overview of the project manager candidate when they open the CV, by summarising the types of projects they deliver, industries they work within, and key project skills and knowledge.

The role descriptions start with a headline that gives an overview of the project being delivered, and where the candidate fits into the project hierarchy. Bullet pointed responsibilities give readers an easily digestible list of the candidate’s input to the project and details of the output created.

Notable project contributions are highlighted at the bottom of the roles and quantified to prove how valuable the candidate’s input has been.

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Basic CV template – Teacher

Basic CV template - Teacher 1

Basic CV template - Teacher 1

 

Key selling points of this CV

The profile is situated at the top of the CV to catch recruiters eyes with a persuasive overview of the teacher’s abilities. It quickly communicates the types of schools taught at, ages and students taught, along with specific teaching skills and subject knowledge.

The role descriptions are structured in a manner that makes them easy for recruiters and employers to read and pick out the information they want. Roles are headed with an outline that builds context by summarising the setting and role. Responsibilities are laid out in clear concise bullet points to showcase teaching abilities and show how the person interacts with colleagues and students.

 

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Basic CV template – Sales

Basic CV template - sales-1

Basic CV template - Sales 2

 

Key selling points of this CV

The profile is designed to ensure that recruiters get a quick outline of the candidate’s abilities in the first moment of opening the CV. It’s a short paragraph which summarises their sales experience, knowledge, and key selling skills, like account management.

The role descriptions are headed with intros which give an overview of the role and company worked for. Responsibilities are listed in short sharp bullet points to quickly communicate the candidate’s input and showcase their sales skills.

Impressive results are vital in sales roles, so key achievements are highlighted and backed up with sales figures or financials.

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CV Writing tips

The above sample CVs will give you a good grounding in the practice of writing your own CV, but here are some tips to help you more during the process.

 

Do your research

Without researching your desired employers and target roles, you will not know which of your skills are in high demand.

So, before you start writing your CV, do some research on the job sites to find out exactly what the core requirements are for the roles you are applying for.

 

Break text up

Hiring managers and recruiters are very busy people who often see hundreds of CVs every week. So, you need to make your CV easy to read, or you will lose out on interviews.

Big chunky paragraphs are daunting to look at, and nobody likes reading them so don’t use them in your CV.

 

Big paragraphs

 

Instead, break text up as much as possible with bullet points and short paragraphs, with a clear font, so recruiters can skim through the info with ease.

 

Avoid cliché phrases

When writing your CV, you should try to keep it factual as possible.

It may be tempting to describe yourself as a “hardworking team player” or someone who “thinks outside the box and goes the extra mile” but that doesn’t tell recruiters anything about your real-life skills and knowledge.

Keep it factual by including lots of hard skills, qualifications and industry terms.

And if you want to prove you are hard-working, use your achievements to prove it, instead of simply stating it.

 

Show your impact

The best way to prove your value as an employee, is by demonstrating the impact you make.

 

Impact

 

Your impact is simply the result of your actions that you achieve for employers or customers.

For example, don’t just write:

“Making cold calls to potential clients”

 

Expand to show your impact by writing

“Making cold calls to clients in order to generate weekly appointments for the sales team”

 

This way, you show how valuable your work is to your employers

You can also use quantified achievements at the end of your roles to really show recruiters the value of your work.

For example;

  • Negotiated new terms with suppliers to reduce bills by 20% per month
  • Opened 2 new client accounts leading to £30k revenue in 6 months

 

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Using your basic CV template

The above CV examples and basic template should have given you a good understanding of how to write your own CV, and what a professional CV should contain.

Once you have created your CV, apply for as many suitable roles as you can via job sites, LinkedIn and speculative email applications.

When making applications, always lead with a strong cover letter to ensure your CV gets opened every time.

If you receive negative feedback on your CV, you can always make tweaks and changes to improve it as you progress.

Good luck with your job search!