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What to include in your CV: the essential sections
A CV is not a complete record of your working life. It is a selective argument for why someone should meet you. Here is exactly what belongs on it, in the right order, and what to leave off.
Knowing what to include in a CV, and just as importantly what to leave out, is half the battle. A CV is not a complete record of your working life. It is a selective argument for why someone should meet you, and every section either supports that argument or wastes space. Get the sections right and the recruiter finds what they need instantly. Get them wrong and your best material gets lost.
Here is exactly what to include in a CV, in the order that works, and the things to leave off.
What to include in a CV: the essential sections
Contact details
Name, city (not full address), phone, professional email and LinkedIn URL. Keep it to one clean line or two.
Personal statement
Three to five lines on your level, specialism and impact. The most-read section on the page.
Key skills
Eight to twelve relevant skills and tools, matched to the role and grouped sensibly.
Work experience
Each role with title, company, dates and achievement-led bullets, most recent first.
Education and qualifications
Fuller for graduates, briefer once you have a track record. Include relevant certifications.
Optional extras
Languages, professional memberships, publications or volunteering, only where they add genuine value to this role.
That order is deliberate. It front-loads what a recruiter most wants to see and matches what applicant tracking systems expect, as covered in our ATS optimisation guide.
What to leave off a CV
Just as important as what to include in a CV is what to cut. These add nothing and can actively hurt you.
- Photo, date of birth, marital status or nationality. In the UK these introduce bias risk and add no value.
- Your full home address. A city is enough; a full address is a privacy risk and wastes a line.
- "References available on request." Expected and assumed, so it only takes up space.
- An objective statement. Replaced years ago by the personal statement.
- Irrelevant hobbies. "Socialising with friends" tells a recruiter nothing useful.
- Every job you have ever had. Summarise or drop anything old or irrelevant.
What to include in a CV, section by section
Recent and relevant roles get the most space, with several achievement bullets each. Older roles shrink to a line or two, and the oldest can be grouped into a brief earlier-career summary. Education expands or contracts depending on how far into your career you are: central for a graduate, a footnote for a director. The principle throughout is relevance. If a line does not help this application, it does not belong on this CV. For how to write the content itself, see our complete guide to writing a CV.
Not sure what is helping and what is just noise?
Send us your CV and a recruiter will tell you exactly what to keep, cut and add. Honest feedback, no obligation.