Free CV Maker: Make a CV for the UK, Ireland and Europe

A4 or US Letter?

A4 (210 × 297 mm) is the standard paper size in the UK, Ireland, the rest of Europe and most countries outside North America. US Letter (8.5 × 11 inches) is the standard in the US and Canada. The two are close, but not the same: A4 is slightly narrower and taller.

For a CV, use A4 unless you are applying to an employer in the US or Canada. It matters mostly when the CV is printed: a Letter-sized document printed on A4 paper (or the other way round) can end up with odd margins, or with the last lines pushed onto an extra page.

Cvbuildly lays out every CV on A4 pages. The live preview shows where each page breaks, so you can see whether your CV fits on one or two pages before you download it. The PDF and the Word file are both A4. If an employer specifically asks for Letter, open the Word file in your word processor, change the page size and check the page breaks.

Should you put a photo on your CV?

This is where conventions differ most, so check the job advert first: if it asks for a photo, add one; if it says not to, leave it out. Without instructions, these are the general norms:

• UK: leave the photo out. Prospects advises that unless you're applying for an acting or modelling job, you don't need to include a photograph. The National Careers Service also says not to include your age, date of birth, marital status or nationality.
• Ireland: leave it out unless asked. The EU's EURES portal notes that in Ireland you only need to supply a photograph if the application form requests one.
• Germany: a photo is still common. EURES describes a typical German application as a cover letter plus a CV with a photo, along with copies of certificates. Many employers accept CVs without one, and some ask for applications without photos, so it's a choice, not a rule.
• France and the Netherlands: no fixed rule. A photo is optional; follow the employer's instructions and the norms in your field.
• US and Canada: leave it out. Resumes without photos are the norm.

If you do add a photo, use a recent, neutral and professional one: a plain background, good light, your head and shoulders. A holiday snapshot does more harm than no photo at all.

In Cvbuildly the photo is optional. You can add one in the personal details step and remove it at any time. The photo is resized in your browser before it is stored, so it doesn't slow the editor down.

How long should a CV be?

For most jobs, a CV should be no longer than two A4 pages. That is the advice for several countries:

• UK: Prospects quotes a university careers service recommending CVs of no more than two A4 pages, shorter for students applying for part-time jobs and slightly longer for academic CVs.
• Ireland: EURES says a CV should be one to two pages long.
• Germany: the tabular CV (tabellarischer Lebenslauf) should not be more than two pages, in reverse chronological order, according to EURES.
• France: EURES describes a CV of no more than two pages.
• Netherlands: EURES says a CV should normally be a maximum of two A4 pages.

One page is often enough if you are a student, a recent graduate or changing careers with little relevant experience. Two pages suit most people with a few years of work behind them. Academic CVs, medical CVs and some senior roles can run longer, because publications, research or clinical rotations are part of what is being assessed.

A practical way to get to two pages: give recent, relevant jobs the most space, shorten jobs older than about ten years to one or two lines, and drop anything that doesn't support the role you are applying for. If your CV runs over by a few lines, a more compact template often solves it without cutting content.

What to include in a CV

The sections are broadly the same across the UK, Ireland and Europe. The National Careers Service lists contact details, an introduction, education, work history and references:

1. Contact details: your name, phone number, email address and, if you have one, a link to a professional profile such as LinkedIn. A full postal address is no longer necessary for most applications; your town or city is enough.
2. Personal profile: a few lines under your name that sum up who you are and what you are looking for. Write it for the job you are applying to, not for every job.
3. Work experience: most recent job first, with the employer, job title, dates and two or three lines about what you did and achieved.
4. Education: qualifications, where you studied and when. If you are early in your career, education can come before work experience.
5. Skills and languages: the technical skills the job asks for, and your languages with a level. In Europe, CEFR levels (A1 to C2) are widely understood.
6. References: in the UK you don't need to list referees' contact details; "References available on request" is enough, or you can leave the line out.

Some countries add their own expectations. EURES notes that German CVs are traditionally signed and dated, and French CVs may include marital status, age and nationality, although these are optional. For UK applications, leave those details out.

For the writing itself, such as how to phrase bullet points and what to put in the profile, see how to write a resume. The advice applies to CVs too.

Europass CV: when to use it

Europass is the European Union's free tool for CVs and cover letters. You build a profile once, then create CVs from it; Europass says you can create, store and share CVs in 31 languages and send them to employers or job boards such as EURES.

A Europass CV is a good choice when:

• a job advert, a public employer or an EU-funded programme asks for one;
• you are applying for an Erasmus+ placement, a traineeship or another mobility programme that uses Europass documents;
• you are applying in a country you don't know well and want a format that is recognised across the EU.

Outside those cases, a well-structured standard CV is usually the better choice. The Europass format is long and form-like, and EURES itself notes that in the Netherlands the Europass CV is not yet widely known among employers and recommends the CV customary there for now. In Germany, EURES mentions the Europass format as an option.

Cvbuildly doesn't produce the official Europass layout. If you need a Europass CV, use the Europass site; for a standard CV in a clean layout, use the CV maker on this site. You can keep both: the information is the same, only the format differs.

How to make your CV in Cvbuildly, step by step

1. Open the CV builder. There's nothing to install and no account to create. On the English site a new CV is set up in English (or in your browser's language, if that is one of the CV languages); you can change it under "Resume Language" in the design settings (English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Polish or Turkish), and the section headings follow that language.
2. Choose a template. Each template card says whether it uses one column or two. Single-column templates are the simplest choice for applicant tracking systems; see the templates to compare them.
3. Start from what you have. Type your details from scratch, or import an existing CV (PDF or Word) or paste its text and let the AI sort it into sections. Check every imported field.
4. Fill in your details. Work through contact details, profile, experience, education, skills and languages. Add a photo only if the country and the job call for one.
5. Use the AI help where it's useful. The AI tools, powered by Groq, can rewrite a rough sentence in clearer professional language, draft a personal profile from what you've entered, suggest skills for a job title and compare your CV with a job posting to show missing keywords. They work only with the information you give them; check every suggestion before you keep it.
6. Check the length. The preview shows the A4 page breaks. If you're slightly over two pages, tighten older jobs or try a more compact template.
7. Download your CV. Choose PDF for most applications, Word (.docx) when an employer asks for an editable file, or plain text for online forms with a "paste your CV" box. Name the file clearly, for example "FirstName-LastName-CV.pdf".

Applying in more than one country? You can keep several CVs in the same browser, for example an A4 CV without a photo for the UK and a version with a photo for Germany, and switch between them. The translate tool can also create an English copy of a CV written in another language; the original stays unchanged.

Your data stays with you

Everything you type goes into your browser's local storage. Your CV is not saved on our servers. To create the PDF, the page is sent to our server, turned into a PDF in memory and returned to you; nothing is kept. When you use an AI tool, the text it needs is sent to our AI provider, Groq, to generate the answer; we don't store it.

Because the CV lives in your browser, clearing your browser data deletes it. Download a copy when you finish, or turn on the optional Google Drive backup, which saves the CV to your own Drive.

Before you send it: a quick checklist

Check	Why it matters
A4 page size (Letter only for the US and Canada)	Prints cleanly and matches what the employer expects
Photo only where it's the norm or requested	Follows local hiring practice
No more than two pages for most roles	Recruiters read quickly; the key information stays visible
Spelling matches the market (British or American English)	Small details show you tailored the CV
Profile and skills match the job advert	Tailoring is what gets interviews, not length
Text-based PDF, clear file name	Applicant tracking systems can read it; recruiters can find it

For more on how applicant tracking systems read a CV, see the ATS guide. Ready-made examples by job are in resume examples, and you can write the matching cover letter with the help of our cover letter examples.

Sources and further reading

• National Careers Service: How to write a CV: UK government advice on CV sections and personal details
• Prospects: How to write a CV: UK graduate careers advice on length, photos and content
• Europass: Create your Europass CV: the EU's free CV tool
• EURES: Living and working conditions in Germany: application documents and CV conventions in Germany
• EURES: Living and working conditions in Ireland
• EURES: Living and working conditions in France
• EURES: Living and working conditions in the Netherlands
• Bundesagentur für Arbeit: Bewerbung: the German Federal Employment Agency's application advice (in German)