CV Design Tips: How to Make Your CV Easy to Read

CV Design Tips: How to Make Your CV Easy to Read

CV Design Tips: How to Make Your CV Easy to Read and Hard to Ignore

Recruiters review hundreds of CVs for a single role, often spending less than eight seconds skimming each one before deciding whether to keep reading.

That means your CV needs to be clear, structured, and easy to digest at a glance. A cluttered or poorly designed CV can cost you opportunities, even if your experience is excellent.

The good news? By applying a few smart design principles, you can increase your CV’s “skim value” and make sure recruiters see your key achievements.

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Here are five strategies to help you design a professional, reader-friendly CV:

1. Create Clear Sections

Recruiters expect to see familiar headings. Structuring your CV into recognisable sections makes it easier for them to navigate quickly.

Typical sections include:

  • Professional Summary or Key Expertise

  • Work Experience

  • Early Career (if applicable)

  • Education

  • Certifications and Qualifications

  • Skills

  • Leadership, Community, or Volunteer Involvement

  • Professional Associations or Distinctions

These sections not only make your CV more user-friendly but also help applicant tracking systems (ATS) correctly process your information.

2. Use Bullet Points, Not Paragraphs

Long paragraphs are easy to skip. Bullet points break up your text and highlight key responsibilities and achievements.

Well-written bullet points are punchy, achievement-focused, and easier to skim. For maximum impact, start each one with a strong action verb (e.g., delivered, increased, led, developed).

3. Apply Formatting Consistently

Formatting should guide the reader’s eye, not overwhelm them. Use bold for company names, italics for job titles, and consider underlining section headers for clarity.

The key is consistency. Inconsistent formatting distracts recruiters and can make your CV look careless.

4. Use White Space Strategically

White space is one of the simplest but most overlooked design tools. Proper spacing between sections, bullet points, and margins gives your content breathing room and prevents your CV from looking crammed.

If you find yourself reducing font size below 10pt or narrowing margins to fit everything in, it’s time to edit down your content instead. A recruiter would rather see a clean, focused CV than one that tries to say everything but ends up being unreadable.

5. Choose Professional Fonts

Fonts influence readability and perception. Stick to clean, professional typefaces and avoid overly decorative ones.

We recommend:

  • Serif fonts: Book Antiqua, Cambria, Garamond, Times New Roman, Georgia (classic and credible).

  • Sans-serif fonts: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica (modern and clear).

You can even use two complementary fonts — for example, one for headings and another for body text — to create natural separation between sections.

In Summary

A recruiter should be able to skim your CV in seconds and immediately spot:

  • Who you are

  • What you’ve achieved

  • Why you’re a fit for the role

By creating a structured layout, using bullet points effectively, applying consistent formatting, incorporating white space, and choosing the right fonts, you’ll present yourself as polished and professional.

Remember: the goal of good CV design isn’t to impress with fancy graphics or colours. It’s to make your content easy to read — so your skills and accomplishments stand out where it matters.

To find out more, visit our website www.cvpilots.co.uk If you have any further questions, you can either book a consultation call with one of our team, or get in touch via email on team@cvpilots.co.uk