Free CV Template

CV or resume? It depends on the country

The same word means different things depending on where you apply:

• UK and Ireland — CV is the everyday word for a one- or two-page job application document. Resume is rarely used.
• India — CV, resume and biodata are used loosely; for most private-sector jobs they mean the same concise document.
• Australia and New Zealand — both words are used, and two or three pages is common for experienced candidates.
• Europe — CV is standard, and some employers and public bodies accept or ask for the Europass format.
• US and Canada — a CV usually means a long academic record; for most jobs you send a resume.

So a UK or Indian CV and a US resume are, in practice, the same thing under different names. If you're applying for research or university teaching posts anywhere, you need the longer academic CV instead.

What to put in a CV at each career stage

Every CV needs a contact line, a short personal statement, your employment history with the newest role first, education, and grouped skills. What changes with experience is the order and the weight:

• Students and freshers — education first, with CGPA or percentage in India and your degree classification in the UK, then internships, projects and skills. One page. Our resume builder for freshers has more.
• Mid-career — experience leads, with results in numbers: revenue, budgets, team size, time saved. One or two pages.
• Senior and executive — a sharper profile, the last ten to fifteen years in detail and earlier roles in a line each. Two pages, or up to three in Australia.

Leave out what no longer helps: a line saying references are available on request, a photo for UK roles, your date of birth, and the signed declaration some Indian CVs end with, unless the employer asks. And when applying to a US employer, call it a resume and keep it tight.

Making your CV readable by ATS

Large employers and recruitment agencies in the UK, India and Australia commonly run applications through an applicant tracking system before a person reads them. A CV the software can't read cleanly may arrive with jumbled sections or missing dates.

A few CV habits help:

• Use the headings people expect — Personal Statement or Profile, Work Experience, Education, Skills.
• Send a PDF made of real text, not a scan or a photo of a printed page.
• Write dates as month and year, consistently, so tenures and gaps are clear.
• Mirror the wording of the job advert where it honestly fits your experience.

Every ResumeInk design is checked to read cleanly in ATS text extraction, with real, selectable text in a logical reading order and no text inside images. The editor also shows an ATS score, so you can see how readable your CV is before you send it.

Make your CV with ResumeInk

Upload the CV you already have as a PDF, a Word file or even a photo of a printout, up to 20 MB, or start from the sample. The AI reads it and rebuilds it in a designed template. Any layout works for a CV; three are dependable starting points:

• Classic — single column, with dates in a narrow column to the left of each role. A good default for most jobs.
• Formal — a centred, restrained header for finance, legal, civil service and senior roles.
• Academic — education first, for graduates, researchers and teaching posts.

Pair any layout with one of 20 colour themes, such as Professional or Classic traditional. Click any line to edit it, reorder or hide sections, and switch designs in one tap without retyping. For a step-by-step walkthrough, see our CV maker.