
10 Best Fonts for a CV in 2023: How to Choose Type & Size
Font choice may seem trivial, but it makes a huge difference. Choose the best font for a CV and send your CV out in style.
Writing a CV isn't easy. Let's face it, how do you even begin? We've got the answers you need. Learn how to start a CV in style & make a great first impression.
How to start a CV?
It’s probably the most important question you can ask yourself when applying for a job. Finding a vacancy isn’t the hardest part. It’s that sinking feeling you get when you sit down to write and don’t even know where to begin.
What’s the best strategy? How do you make your CV eye-catching? We’ve got the answers to those questions and more. By the time you’re done reading you’ll know how to make the perfect start to writing your CV.
Want to save time and have your CV ready in 5 minutes? Try our CV builder. It’s fast and easy to use. Plus, you’ll get ready-made content to add with one click. See 20+ CV templates and create your CV here.
Sample CV made with our builder—See more CV samples here.
Jennifer Peters
Ph: 0777 777 7777
Email: jpeters_zety@gmail.com
Target-driven and client focussed recruitment consultant with 4+ years of experience. Achieved a 100% record of sourcing suitable candidates within timeframes set by clients. Helped to retain accounts worth a total of £500,000 per annum. Looking to further develop my skills and experience in IT recruitment for large corporations as a senior recruitment consultant for Codexperts.
Work Experience
Recruitment Consultant
Tech Professionals 4U, Nottingham
September 2016–Present
Key achievement: Exceeded targeted number of hires by 15%+ in every quarter.
Education
BA Business Management (Human Resource Management), September 2013–June 2016
University of Nottingham
Skills
Languages
Begin your CV with a personal profile or CV summary. Write a short attention-grabbing paragraph that explains why you’re the perfect candidate. And focus on your professional achievements to give your work experience and skills added impact.
You’ll also see this section called a personal statement but call it what you will, it serves the same purpose. It’s an introduction to you as a candidate and it has to be convincing. Get it wrong and the hiring manager will just move on to the next CV in the pile. So here’s how to write a personal statement that’ll make the perfect start to your CV.
Next, it’s time to start writing your personal statement. It boils down to answering these three questions.
And depending on where you are in your career you should answer them slightly differently. Here’s how to start a personal statement for a CV for more experienced candidates.
If you’re just starting out and writing a student CV or a graduate CV then change your strategy a little and do this.
So how does this look in practice? Here are some examples:
Creative digital marketing manager with 10+ years of experience boosting brand awareness and profitability for prestigious retailers. Achievements include spearheading a viral social media campaign that increased a client’s sales by 100% in just one quarter. Looking to join Cerulean Media to lead its standout marketing team to new heights of success.
Meticulous accounts receivable officer with 5+ years of experience recovering outstanding payments for a major building contractor. Devised a new system of automated payment reminders that reduced defaults by 50%. Supervised and mentored four junior accounts team members. Eager to join Nichols Construction as accounts receivable supervisor and help to ensure a rapid and unimpeded flow of incoming payments.
University College London computer science graduate with a passion for Python, R and all things data science. Created an award-winning project for scraping data from competitor websites for e-commerce businesses to create easily understandable success metrics. Have written three python scripts for automated data cleaning for various business needs. Looking to launch my career with Phylum Solutions as a junior data scientist.
Highly-motivated first year communications student seeks opportunity to gain experience in customer support. Hands-on experience in customer service through working as a volunteer shop assistant and charity line operator for the Cancer Trust. Looking to grow my professional experience and skills as a junior customer support officer at Woodbrick Services.
Read more: CV Introduction Examples
When making a CV in our builder, drag & drop bullet points, skills, and auto-fill the boring stuff. Spell check? Check. Start building your CV here.
When you’re done, Zety’s CV builder will score your CV and tell you exactly how to make it better.
Strictly speaking the first thing you write on your CV is the CV header. That’s the part of the document that contains your name and contact details. It’s an absolutely essential part of your CV structure because it introduces you as an individual and enables the employer to get in touch with you.
Here’s how to start a CV header:
Now that your header is ready we can move on to the exciting bit, writing your personal statement.
Read more: CV Ideas Recruiters Love
There’s actually a little more to it than just sitting down and firing off the perfect personal statement. So let’s break down how to start writing a CV.
If you want the best CV you have to make it perfectly tailored to each job you apply for. The way to do that is to pay close attention to the job advert. Think of it as the hiring manager’s wishlist for the ideal candidate.
Read it carefully and take notes, listing all the CV skills, work experience and education that are mentioned as job requirements. Those are your key points of reference for deciding what things to include in your CV. And throughout the writing process you should make sure that you match your own skills and experience to the job requirements as closely as possible.
In the UK, CVs come in two main formats. Chronological and skills-based or functional. The best CV format for most candidates is chronological. It’s the style recruiters prefer and its main focus is exactly where it should be, on your work experience.
A skills-based CV really only has limited utility though. It’s good for writing a career change CV and it can be useful for freelancers and people leaving the military. But it’s really hard to write well, recruiters hate them because they assume you’re hiding something and they aren’t always ATS-friendly. You’re much better off sticking with a standard chronological CV.
Looks count if you want to craft the perfect CV. Before you write a single word, get your settings sorted and take the following advice into account:
When you do start writing your CV you’ll find it much easier if you use a good quality CV builder. Use Zety’s CV maker and you’ll get a great selection of modern CV templates, expert advice and a pain-free writing experience to make your job application a breeze. Plus you’ll get a selection of matching CV cover letter templates too.
Plus, a great cover letter that matches your CV will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:
See more cover letter templates and start writing.
Starting a CV doesn’t have to be hard. Just remember the following tips:
Thanks for reading. If there’s anything else you’d like to know about how to start a good CV then let us know in the comments section. We’re always happy to help.
Font choice may seem trivial, but it makes a huge difference. Choose the best font for a CV and send your CV out in style.
Everyone knows that a good beginning grabs attention. Grab the recruiter hook, line, and sinker with a fantastic CV introduction.
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