CV Templates

There isn’t much difference between a CV and a resume for the majority of job seekers. In most cases, these documents have the same meaning, and are used by anyone looking for a job in the US or abroad.

However, in scientific fields like medicine, biology, and across academia, longer professional documents are needed to highlight a job seeker’s publications and research, and these documents are always called CVs, or academic CVs.

Our CV templates, unlike our resume templates, are explicitly designed to let users make a CV of any length. Whether you’re an academic applying for a research position or a recent college graduate submitting an application for your first job, our professional CV templates make figuring out how to write your CV easier.

If you’re writing a job-seeking CV, you’ll need to add your:

• Contact details (cellphone number and email address)
• CV introduction (for example, a qualifications summary)
• Skills (both hard and soft)
• Work history
• Certifications and educational background (just your highest degree)

For an academic CV, you’ll also need to include this information:

• Academic publications
• Conferences you’ve attended
• Professional memberships you hold
• Research projects you’ve undertaken
• Grants/financial awards you’ve received

Additionally, the education section of a CV is longer: You should include details on all of your degrees, courses you’ve studied, and relevant coursework.

All of our CV templates are professional, but the one you should choose depends on what kind of company and role you’re applying for. If you’re submitting an application for a position at a traditional company like a law firm or bank, you should use a CV template that has a good level of formality, like Classic or Elegant.

By contrast, if you’re applying for a creative role such as graphic designer or photographer, use a creative CV template like Pantheon or Taj Mahal.

A job-seeking CV should be one to two pages long. If you’re a recent graduate or only have a few years of experience, use a one-page CV format. If you have a decade or more of work experience, you can add an additional page.

An academic CV is meant to be an exhaustive overview of your academic and professional achievements such as publications and research, so there are no limits in terms of how long it should be.

Any of our CV templates can be downloaded by clicking the green button underneath each set of templates. After clicking the button, your CV template will download as a ZIP file. Once you unzip your CV template file, you can choose from several versions of the Microsoft Word CV template — one for each color. Simply use the color you want, and begin writing!

A CV template and a curriculum vitae template are the same thing. “CV” is an abbreviation for “curriculum vitae.” So if you’re looking for effective curriculum vitae templates to download, use one of our outstanding CV templates.

A template CV is even more effective than one you create yourself for several reasons:

1. It saves you time — you don’t need to set up the page, margins, fonts, etc. yourself
2. You don’t need to be a graphic designer to be able to create an aesthetically pleasing CV
3. We’ve set up our CV templates with a proven structure that immediately highlights your most important professional details to hiring managers
4. Our CV templates have been created with applicant tracking systems in mind — so your CV won’t be rejected by software before a hiring manager has the chance to look at it

There’s no single best CV template for 2021 — all of our CV templates have been created to impress hiring managers and make your experience come off as professional as possible.

But before you decide which CV template is the best CV template for you, consider the industry you want to get a job in. More traditional CV templates are best for formal industries like law and politics, whereas modern CVs suit creative fields like design and marketing.

Yes, you need a cover letter template to go with your CV template. Make sure it matches your CV to keep your application looking consistent.

All of our CV templates are free to download, modify, and use. You can even use this blank CV Template — simply copy and paste it into your preferred word processor and off you go.