Posted on December 23, 2020 by Archan Trivedi

In the UK, a resume is generally referred to as a CV (Curriculum Vitae). Traditionally, a CV is a detailed document that furnishes an overview of a person’s entire career spanning several pages. It is designed to give a complete picture of your “course of life” and is supposed to be stationary supported by a Cover Letter. It generally includes a personal statement, emphasizing your aims, hobbies and interests that are not related to your career. Although, CVs are largely the same across the globe, every country has style preferences that you need to comply with if you want to get shortlisted. Today however, a CV in the UK tends to fall somewhere between a resume and a traditional CV. If you are searching for a job in the UK, it is mandatory that you tailor your CV in the UK format. Here’s a tip – translate your grades into British grading system for applying in the UK.

The reason for applying for the job position and the candidate’s skills for the desired position will go in the Cover Letter and not the CV. The employers wouldn’t be reading all the pages about your achievements, so today’s UK CV have been slimmed down to only 2 pages. However, one size doesn’t fit all, so for some professionals one or three pages may be appropriate. UK employers give great importance to hobbies and personal establishments and achievements. Include them in your CV but avoid bragging about them because in the UK, modesty is appreciated. A CV is to be drafted on a standard A4 sized paper (21.0cm wide and 29.7cm tall) with the page margin around 2 to 2.5cms. This is because white spaces ensure clarity and professionalism. A career objective is not a part of the British CV.

Let me give you some examples about how a British CV differs from the other CVs or resumes. When in America, the word “internship” is used, in the UK this is typically called a “work placement” or a “training period”. If you have been working as an “intern” in the US, that means you have been working as a “trainee” in the UK. A lawyer in the British English is a “Solicitor”, but in the American English, he is an “Attorney”. The word “labour” is used instead of the American word “labor”. Similarly, British English uses “optimise” instead of “optimize’. It is compulsory to mention your date of birth and sometimes even your Nationality because of the work visa issues in your CV. The date should be written in the British order (DD/MM/YY format).

Your employment details should be written in a reverse chronological order, beginning with the most recent job. While writing the employment details in a CV, create two columns- the left column should be for dates and the right column should contain the information about your job. You can also highlight your key achievements here. When you are mentioning your educational qualifications, create two columns with the dates stated in the left column and the name of the school or university in the right column. It is necessary to mention your personal details in your CV writing services. Similarly, the personal details are also mentioned in columns. Mention the labels in the left column and the information in the right column. It is not required to include your personal information such as your age, marital status or your dependents as this doesn’t affect your ability to do the job as these details are protected under the Equality Act 2010, and it is against the law for the employers to ask for them so do not mention them in your CV.

References and recommendations are a big part of the hiring mechanism in the UK. Your CV should mention positions, names and contact details of at least two people. Some European countries require you to include a photo in your CV, but in the UK, photos are disliked, and you could see yourself getting rejected if you attach a photo. It is common to include a simple list of your skills that are not in connection to your work history. This provides a quick glimpse of what you excel at, without investigating into your experience too much. It is perfectly acceptable to keep a generic copy of your CVs for your own records, but if you are applying to a particular job, it must be tailored to the role of that particular job. Not only will this show the employers why you’re a match, but it will help your application beat the ATS robots too.