5 Design Tips to make your CV stand out

Happy 2021! A new year brings new beginnings, and for some of you that might mean a career change or job search. That’s why we thought we’d share some useful tips for making your CV stand out from the crowd!

Tip #1 Font

Make sure your CV is legible! Decorative and script fonts are pretty but can be difficult to read. Stick to clean, clear fonts that are easy to read. And make sure that your name and other headings are in a larger font size. If you’re unsure of a font, remember KEEP IT SIMPLE.

Tip #2 Don’t be afraid of using colour!

CV’s don’t only need to be in black and white! Choose a colour scheme of max 3 colours that is relevant to the industry you want to work in. For example, use blues and darker colours for finance/banking sector or something brighter for the tech industry.

Apply your colour scheme to your headings and key areas that need to be highlighted. Just keep in mind that your CV is still a professional document! Your colour scheme shouldn’t be the main focus or make reading your CV confusing.

Not sure how to choose a colour scheme? Sites like Coolors, Colormind and My Color Space are worth checking out!

Tip #3 Layout and spacing

Use headings, sub-headings, bullet points and (very important) white space. This will make your CV easy to skim-read and pick up on the most important information – very important when a recruiter has a stack of CV’s to go through!

If you are looking for your first job, you probably don’t have a ton of experience or a relevant career history to add to your CV. Instead of spreading out small amounts of information across many pages, rather make your CV a concise A4 page with your most important information.

Tip #4 Keep it consistent

An inconsistent CV with different sized headings and badly aligned text can easily look messy and unprofessional.

Here are some tips to make sure your content is consistent:

• Alignment: all headings, bullet points and paragraph text should line up on your page
• Sizing: all main headings should be the same size – this also goes for your sub-headings and paragraph text
• Text hierarchy: main headings should be the largest, followed by slightly smaller sub-headings and lastly your paragraph text should be the smallest font size
• Line spacing: this should be consistent throughout. Right before you are done with your CV, select all the text and make sure the line spacing is uniform

Tip #5 Don’t use too many design elements

Using fun design elements like icons, shapes and images can make your CV stand out, but too much can be overwhelming. Bring in some design elements to highlight important information – this will immediately pull the viewer’s focus. When using icons, make sure they’re the same size and look similar. For example, don’t use a phone icon inside a square next to an email icon inside a circle.

For further consistency, make sure your icons are all the same colour!

If you are still unsure of where to start with designing your CV, there are lots of free sites where you can find a template that works for you. These include: Total Jobs, Monster and reed.co.uk.

TOP TIP: If you’re applying for a job in the creative industry it is an absolute MUST that you include your design portfolio with your CV!

We hope this post helped you get started with your CV – and helps you get that dream job!