# CV Formatting and Tips

### **CV Formatting**

**A CV should feature a clean, distinctive appearance that attracts attention. The final product should be well organized, professional, and easy to read. Here’s a good place to start:**

* Set margins at 1 inch.
* Choose 11- or 12-point for the size of your fonts, black text, Sans Serif Fonts like Arial
* Your CV should be as long as you need to convey the relevant information about your qualifications, skills, and experiences. Don't reduce font size, decrease margins, or omit important information to shorten it.
* Ensure consistent style, size, and formatting of headings and punctuation
* Use bold, italics, capitalization, and bullets to organize your CV — but use sparingly.
* Number the pages
* Spell-check your CV and review it for poor grammar. Ask someone to help you proofread.
* Write short, succinct sentences using strong active verbs and vivid, precise language.
* Standardize the dates on left or right (except for citations of scholarly activity)
  * use consistent margins 
  * make sure it has enough white space
  * should be easy to read
  * Include the Month and Year

### CV Writing Tips:

1. List everything in reverse chronological order (most recent first)
2. Be detailed: use numerical data whenever possible (i.e. “interviewed 40 volunteers” or “taught 35 students”).
3. Use words like ‘anticipated’ if something has not happened yet definitely will happen (do not use it if you are hopeful something will happen but don’t know for sure).

 ![](/files/jXIhZ4ir2SvrISCibfqA)


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