UK CV Format: What British Employers Expect
A UK CV is two pages, has no photo and leaves out personal details like age and marital status. This guide covers the structure, the personal statement and the mistakes that make a CV look like it was written for another country.
The basics: length, photo and personal details
In the UK the document is called a CV, not a resume, and two A4 pages is the standard for most experienced candidates. Graduates and career starters can fit everything on one page.
Leave out the photo, date of birth, marital status, nationality and religion. The Equality Act 2010 protects candidates from discrimination on these grounds, and recruiters generally prefer not to receive information they are not allowed to use. Your contact block needs only your name, phone number, email, town or city and, optionally, a LinkedIn profile.
Start with a short personal statement
Under your name, write three to four lines that say who you are professionally, what you are good at and what you are looking for. Make it specific to the role: "Customer support lead with six years in SaaS, experienced in scaling a team from 4 to 15 and cutting first-response time by half" says far more than "hard-working team player with excellent communication skills".
Work history and achievements
List your roles in reverse chronological order with job title, employer, location and dates (month and year). Under each, use four to six bullet points that start with a verb and, where you can, include a result: a number, a percentage, a saving or a deadline met.
Recruiters in the UK skim. Put the most relevant role and achievements in the top half of page one, and shorten or summarise jobs from more than ten years ago.
Education, skills and references
For education, give the qualification, institution and year. A-level grades and degree classification (for example "BSc Computer Science, 2:1") are worth including early in your career; experienced candidates can drop A-levels.
Skills should be relevant and concrete: tools, languages with a level and certifications. You do not need to list references or write "references available on request"; employers ask for them at the offer stage.
Right to work and spelling
If you are applying from abroad, one clear line about your right to work saves the recruiter a question: "Eligible for the Skilled Worker visa" or "Graduate visa valid until 2027". Use British spelling (organise, programme, CV rather than resume) and the UK date order. Small signals like these tell the reader that you wrote the CV for them.
Frequently asked questions
Should I put a photo on a UK CV?
No. UK CVs normally have no photo, and recruiters may even discard CVs that include personal details they cannot consider.
How long should a UK CV be?
Two pages is standard for experienced candidates; one page works for graduates.
Do I need to include references on my CV?
No. Employers ask for referees later in the process, so you can use the space for achievements instead.
What is the difference between a UK CV and a US resume?
A UK CV is usually two pages and starts with a personal statement; a US resume is typically one page and more tightly focused on achievements. Neither includes a photo.