How to format a CV before you send it to a client

A practical layout for candidate CVs going out to a hiring manager: what to keep, what to cut, and the order people actually read in.

Last updated 22 September 2026 · 8 minute read

Most CVs are written for a job board, not for a hiring manager. They arrive with a photograph, a two-line address, a decorative sidebar and a skills section that lists Microsoft Word. None of that helps the person you are sending it to, and some of it actively gets in the way. A client reads a CV for about thirty seconds before deciding whether to read it properly, so the job of formatting is to get the relevant evidence into those thirty seconds.

This is the structure we use, in the order it should appear on the page.

1. Put the fit at the top, in four lines

Before the work history, add a short summary written for this role rather than for the candidate in general. Four lines is enough: what they do, how long they have done it, the two or three things in their background that match the brief, and their availability. A hiring manager who reads only that should already know whether to book the interview.

Two rules make the difference. Use the client’s language, not the candidate’s — if the job description says “demand planning” and the CV says “forecasting”, write demand planning. And make every claim checkable further down the page, because a summary that promises something the work history does not show reads as sales rather than evidence.

2. Lead with the most recent role, and give it the most room

Reverse chronological order, always. The current or most recent role earns four to six bullet points; the one before it, three or four; anything more than ten years old gets a single line with the job title, the employer and the dates. Nobody needs six bullets about a graduate scheme from 2011.

For each role, give the employer, the job title, the dates as month and year, and one line of context about the business — its size, its sector, or what it sells. “Senior Analyst, Northgate Logistics (£40m turnover, 300 staff, chilled distribution)” tells a hiring manager more about the scale someone has worked at than any adjective will.

3. Rewrite the bullet points as results, not duties

This is the part that takes the longest and pays back the most. A duty describes the job; a result describes the person doing it. The pattern that works is: what you did, how, and what changed as a result.

• Before: “Responsible for managing the monthly reporting cycle.”
• After: “Rebuilt the monthly reporting pack in Power BI, cutting the close from nine days to four and removing the manual consolidation step.”

Numbers help, but do not invent them. If the candidate cannot remember a figure, keep the structure and drop the number — “reduced the close by roughly half” is honest and still useful. Making up metrics is the fastest way to lose a client’s trust when the candidate cannot back them up in the interview.

Keep bullets to two lines on the page. If one runs to four, it is usually two separate achievements that want separating.

4. Strip out everything that is not evidence

A CV going to a client does not need any of the following, and is better without them:

• Photographs. They invite bias, they take a fifth of the first page, and in the UK they are not expected.
• Full postal addresses, dates of birth, marital status and nationality. A city or region is all a hiring manager needs for a commute or a visa question.
• The candidate’s direct contact details. You are the route to the candidate until the client says otherwise. Keeping them off the document also means a forwarded CV cannot be approached around you.
• Skill rating bars. A graphic saying someone is 80 per cent proficient in Excel means nothing to anyone.
• “References available on request.” Everyone knows.
• Objectives written for a different job. If it says “seeking a graduate position in marketing” and you are submitting them for a finance role, it has to go.

5. Fix the things that make a CV unreadable

Formatting problems are rarely about taste. They are about whether the document survives being opened on someone else’s laptop and printed by their PA.

• One column, not two. Sidebars break when the file is converted, and applicant tracking systems read them out of order.
• One font, two sizes. Eleven point body text, a slightly larger bold for headings. Nothing below ten point.
• Consistent dates. Pick one format — “Mar 2021 – Sep 2024” — and use it everywhere, including for the gaps.
• No text in images or text boxes. It cannot be searched, copied or read by a screen reader.
• Room to breathe. Margins of at least 15 mm and a clear gap between roles. A dense page reads as a hard candidate.

6. Explain the gaps rather than hiding them

A six-month gap that is unexplained becomes the first question in the interview and the first doubt in the client’s mind. A six-month gap with “Career break — travel” or “Redundancy, actively searching” beside it is a non-event. Write the explanation in the same style as the roles, one line, no apology. Short contracts are worth grouping under a single heading, such as “Interim assignments, 2022–2024”, with the client names listed underneath, so the CV does not look like job hopping when it is a contracting career.

7. How long should it be?

Two pages for most candidates. Three is defensible for someone fifteen years in, or for technical and academic candidates whose projects, publications or clearances are the point. One page is right for graduates and for the separate candidate profile you send alongside the CV, but squeezing twenty years onto one page means cutting the evidence a client wants.

If a CV runs long, cut from the bottom and the middle: old roles, education detail, hobbies, and any bullet that repeats a point already made in a more recent role.

8. Send it as a branded document

The last step is the one that gets skipped when the submission is already late. A CV that arrives in your agency’s template, with your logo in the header and a consistent typeface, tells the client that someone has read it and stands behind it. A CV forwarded in the candidate’s own formatting, with a different font on every page, tells them the opposite — and if you submit to the same client every week, the difference compounds.

Use the same template for every candidate and every client. It makes your submissions recognisable in an inbox, it makes comparing two candidates easier, and it means the version a hiring manager forwards internally still has your name on it.

A short checklist

• Four-line fit summary at the top, in the client’s language
• Reverse chronological, most recent role longest
• Bullets rewritten as results, with honest numbers
• No photograph, address, date of birth or candidate contact details
• One column, one font, consistent dates, no text boxes
• Gaps explained in one line each
• Two pages, three at a push
• Your branding, every time

Frequently asked questions

Should I rewrite a candidate’s CV or just tidy it up?

Rewrite the summary and the bullet points for the most recent two roles, and tidy everything else. Always send the rewritten version to the candidate before it goes to the client — partly because they may correct a detail, and partly because they will be asked about it in the interview.

Is it acceptable to change what a candidate wrote?

Yes, as long as nothing changes in substance. Reordering, cutting and rephrasing are fine. Adding experience, moving dates, inflating job titles or inventing results is not, and it will surface at interview or reference stage.

Should the CV keep the candidate’s contact details for the client?

Not at submission stage. Once the client wants to interview, you arrange it. Removing the details protects the introduction and keeps you in the loop on scheduling and feedback.

Word or PDF?

Send Word if the client’s system needs to parse it, which many applicant tracking systems do, and PDF if the layout matters more than the parsing. Word is the safer default for agency submissions; keep a PDF ready for anyone who asks.