Modern CV Templates for the UK

CV design has advanced by leaps and bounds over the past few decades. Not long ago, CVs were straightforward, black-and-white documents summarising your personal details, education, and work experience.

But, as competition increased, job seekers started experimenting with formatting, fonts, and bullet points to make their CVs stand out. Then, as computers became more common and simplified the process, CV design became more flexible, and people started using different layouts and styles to improve the look of their CVs.

The growth of the internet then led to online job portals where digital CVs could be easily shared. And eventually, this led to the development of CV templates specifically tailored for digital formats.

A stunning CV that will impress recruiters at first glance starts with a strong CV template but doesn’t end there. Contact our career counselling service for feedback on your CV to ensure you nail all the details and land your dream job.

We’ve helped thousands of people succeed in their job search, prep for interviews, negotiate the details of their contracts, and otherwise hit their career targets. Get in touch with us to start navigating your career with confidence.

Advantages of using a modern CV template

A modern CV template offers several benefits over a CV you design yourself:

Saves time

A modern CV template comes pre-formatted, so you don't need to spend hours creating a layout from scratch and can focus on filling in your personal information. This is especially helpful if you're applying to multiple jobs or need to update your CV often.

Readability

A modern CV template has clear and organised sections so recruiters and hiring managers can quickly scan and understand the content. Font sizes, styles, and formatting are chosen to enhance readability and highlight key details, which improves your chances of making a positive impression.

Ensures all the important information is included

Modern CV templates come with the sections that recruiters expect to see, so you don’t have to wonder what to include or worry whether you’ve forgotten anything.

Visual appeal

Modern CV templates make the most of visually appealing design elements like colour schemes, icons, and graphical accents. A CV with great visual appeal will stand out from the competition, be more memorable, and show you’re a dedicated professional.

Professionalism and branding

A modern CV template can help you incorporate your brand in visually consistent and compelling ways. Because good modern templates are easily customised, you can incorporate design elements and colours that align with your industry, personality, or desired image.

Easy to update

Updating or changing your CV using a CV template is easy since everything is already designed for you. As you grow your skillset and gain experience, you can quickly input these new developments to tailor your CV to a new job for a career change.

Types of modern CV templates

Minimalist CV templates

The simplicity and clarity of minimalist CV templates make them particularly well-suited for various roles - from conservative to creative. When choosing a minimalist template, it's essential to consider your target role's specific requirements and expectations.

Our favourite minimalist CV templates include our Minimal, Compact, Classic, and Ivy League templates.

Minimalist CV templates are characterised by their simple and clear design, clean layouts, limited use of colours, and a focus on essential information. These templates prioritise content over flashy or abundant visual elements so the information shines through.

Suitability

Minimalist CV templates are well-suited for roles like financial analyst, consulting, solicitor, and accounting, where a clean and professional appearance is valued. These industries often require close attention to detail and precision, reflected in the minimalist design.

Minimalist CV templates are also suitable for tech, design, and other creative roles, emphasising your technical skills and creativity, like animator, audio engineer, and copy writer. A minimalist template helps these key elements take centre stage without overwhelming the recruiter with unnecessary design frills.

Minimalist CV templates suit academic and research positions that emphasise your qualifications, publications, and research experience, including professor, lecturer, and lab assistant. These templates provide a structured and organised format to showcase educational achievements, research interests, and relevant publications that are easy to read and digest.

Infographic CV templates

Infographic CV templates incorporate different visual elements to present information in a visually engaging and memorable way. They can include icons, charts, graphs, and illustrations to convey key details about a candidate's qualifications, skills, and experiences.

Our Multicolumn CV template is a brilliant all-around infographic CV template you can use in most instances. But we’ve also seen some really tailored ones we’ve completely fallen in love with.

For example, Gisele’s CV does a great job balancing eye-catching design with a strong focus on results. Moving behind the curtain, Deda reveals intimate aspects of her work process to impress and connect with recruiters.

Infographic CV templates aren’t for every situation. They’re well-suited for visually-oriented industries that rely on strong design skills or where you’re looking to showcase your creativity. But traditional industries or roles that prioritise text-based information might prefer conventional CV formats.

If you are considering an infographic CV template, remember that the visual elements should not overshadow the content. The infographics should be used judicially to add clarity, not instead of great content.

Features and advantages of infographic CV templates:

Visual appeal

Infographic CV templates are visually striking and attention-grabbing, which is a great boost when you’re trying to sell yourself to prospective recruiters and employers. They use creative and eye-catching designs to present information, making them stand out from traditional text-based CVs.

Information digestibility

Infographic templates effectively condense and organise information into digestible chunks. You can present complex data or lengthy text in a concise and easily understandable visual format.

Showcase creativity

Infographic CV templates let you showcase your creativity and design skills through the unique layouts, colour schemes, and illustrations you include. You can also demonstrate your ability to think outside the box, a sought-after trait for some creative roles.

Highlighting key points

Infographics are effective for emphasising key points or achievements. You can draw attention to specific skills, accomplishments, or statistics by using icons, graphs, or charts.

Suitability

Infographic CV templates are particularly effective in industries where visual presentation and creativity are valued. Fields like graphic design, marketing, advertising, and other creative industries often appreciate candidates who communicate visually effectively.

Two-column CV templates

A modern two-column CV template layout is divided into two columns - often with the left column used for general information and the right for more specific content. They help keep your info well-organised and visually balanced, with a clear information hierarchy, efficient use of space, and high readability.

Our favourite modern two-column CV templates include our Double Column, Elegant, Polished, Modern, and High Performer templates. The design features of these two-column CV templates offer some unique advantages:

Efficient use of space

The two-column layout is a really smart use of available space. It accommodates tons of content, which is brilliant for candidates with long work histories or significant education to list.

Information organisation

Two-column CV templates provide a structured and organised format for presenting information. The division into columns helps to categorise and separate different sections, making it easier for readers to locate and understand specific details.

Visual balance

The two-column layout creates visual balance and symmetry, enhancing the overall aesthetics of the CV. The ample white space between the columns maintains readability and prevents a cluttered look.

Clear information hierarchy

These templates offer a clear information hierarchy by placing essential details in the left column as headings or key points that catch a recruiter's attention. This helps employers quickly identify your key qualifications and skills.

Readability and scannability

Given all the benefits we just mentioned, it’s easy to see why two-column CV templates offer amazing readability and scannability. Recruiters can easily scan your CV or navigate through different sections to find the info they want to see.

Suitability

Professionals often use two-column CV templates in corporate settings because the formal and structured layout aligns with the culture in these industries. They’re a great choice when applying to business, finance, management, or administration roles, like investment banking, finance director, or marketing director.

Two-column CV templates effectively showcase technical skills, qualifications, and extensive educational histories. Consider using one in fields where you need to present a combination of specialised expertise and work experiences, such as when applying as a data scientist, structural engineer, or solutions architect.

Tips for choosing the right modern CV template

Aligning the CV template with your professional image

There are a few factors to consider when browsing modern CV templates to complement your professional image and align with your personal brand.

First, think about the industry or field you're targeting and the expectations within that industry. Different industries may have specific preferences for CV formats.

For example, creative fields may value visually appealing and unique designs, but more traditional industries favour clean and professional layouts. Aligning your CV template with industry expectations helps create a cohesive and professional image.

Second, consider your personal brand and the image you want to convey to potential employers. Ensure the template you choose aligns with your personal brand and helps you effectively communicate your professional identity and unique qualities, skills, and experiences.

If you're in a creative field, you may opt for a more visually engaging template that showcases your creativity. On the other hand, if you're in a professional services industry, a clean and organised template may be more appropriate.

Ultimately, the goal is to balance modernity, professionalism, and personal branding. Look for contemporary templates that maintain readability and clarity, and avoid overly flashy or distracting designs that could detract from the content.

Ensuring readability and clarity

Ensure your CV is readable and clearly highlights your key qualifications to have the greatest impact on recruiters. There are several factors you should consider toward this:

Font choice

Opt for a clear and legible font for a modern CV template. Sans-serif fonts like Rubik, Lato, Arial, Helvetica, or Calibri are often preferred for their clean and modern look.

Ensure that the font size is readable and consistent throughout the document. In some cases, you can incorporate subtle differentiation for headings and subheadings.

Colour schemes

Choose a colour scheme that enhances readability, like contrasting colours for text and background, to ensure the content is easy to read. At the same time, maintain professionalism by using colour sparingly to highlight specific sections or elements while keeping the overall design clean and uncluttered.

Layout

A well-structured layout is essential for readability:

• Look for templates that offer clear sections with appropriate spacing.
• Ensure that headings and subheadings are clearly differentiated from the body text.
• Choose a balanced two-column layout for efficient information organisation
• Opt for a single-column layout for a more traditional approach.

Consistency

Consistency promotes clarity and makes navigating and understanding the relevant information easier for the recruiter. Maintain consistency across design elements like font style, size, and formatting, and ensure that headings, subheadings, and bullet points follow a consistent style throughout the CV.

White space

Sufficient white space is crucial for readability and clarity, to help separate sections, highlight key information, and improve overall visual appeal. Avoid overcrowding the CV with too much text or design elements.

Should you worry about the ATS with a modern template?

When it comes to Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), there's a lot of misinformation circulating online. Many CV guides use ATS as a scare tactic, pushing "good enough" templates that promise to bypass these systems. These templates often mimic basic MS Office designs, playing on the fear of being deemed incompetent. This approach benefits CV writers and template sellers, but the reality is far less daunting. Contrary to popular belief, there are no wrong fonts, colors, or graphics that ATS cannot parse. Enhancv's fonts, for instance, are perfectly compatible with ATS, as are all conventional fonts. The number of columns, CV length, and even including a picture have zero impact on parsing.

The real focus should be on the content of your CV rather than the template. Ensuring that your CV language aligns with the job description is crucial. Avoid using overly fancy words that might confuse the system or be overlooked by recruiters. Attention to detail, such as date formats and the use of commas or spaces between skills, can also affect how well your CV is parsed by some ATS. While we manage these nuances, it's important to note that no universal standard exists for ATS. However, we ensure compatibility with major systems like Indeed’s and Hireability’s.

It's also worth noting that not every company uses ATS. Smaller companies and startups often prefer traditional evaluation methods. Therefore, we avoid the generic advice of "optimize your CV for the ATS." Overloading your CV with keywords to pass an ATS can make it unreadable for a human recruiter later on. We aim to reassure applicants, highlighting that ATS is just one part of the hiring process. Balancing optimization with readability ensures your CV performs well in both automated and human reviews.

Takeaways

• A modern CV template design can differentiate you from other applicants
• Modern CV design lets you communicate your value in a visually engaging way
• You can easily incorporate personal branding elements using a modern CV template
• Pre-formatted templates save time and effort over creating a CV from scratch
• They also ensure consistency throughout your document
• Templates allow you to easily and quickly tailor your CV