CV template for Word (free download)

The first CV I ever put together took me half an hour. I wrote it in one sitting and sent it to every posting I could find that week. I did not get a single reply. Much later I understood that the problem was not my experience: it was the document. It was out of order, it carried details nobody had asked for, and it was missing exactly what the person reading it needed in the first few seconds, which is what I can do and where I have done it.

After that I did the opposite exercise. I kept every version I had sent, compared them with the ones that did get me interviews, and built a Word template I could reuse for any application without starting from scratch. That template is the one I share here: two pages, fixed sections, simple tables and an order you can read from top to bottom without effort. It has no loud colours or decoration; it has what a hiring process actually checks.

In this article I explain what the person who receives a CV is asking for, what details to have at hand before you start typing and which mistakes drain the document of value even when the experience behind it is good. I write it from both sides: as someone who sends a CV when looking for work, and as someone who has read and sorted them to build short lists.

⬇ Download CV (.docx)

What a CV is and what it is not

My CV is an ordered summary of my track record: who I am professionally, where I have worked, what I studied, what I can do and how I can be reached. It is a presentation document, not a file. It does not replace employment certificates, a degree or reference letters: all of that is requested later, once the process moves forward, and is handed over as an attachment.

The distinction matters because many candidates try to fit everything into the same file: photocopies, diplomas, screenshots, one-line lists of courses. The result is a long document that gets skimmed. A well-written two-page CV achieves more than a six-page file nobody opens to the end. The template is built for that: it forces you to choose what matters.

It also helps to understand that a CV is not a public document. It is mine, I update it when something changes and I decide who gets it. Many processes ask me to upload it to a portal and then repeat the same details field by field; the Word version works as the base and as a backup, so dates, job titles and contacts are at hand without digging through boxes of paper.

What the person receiving a CV is looking for

Before writing, it helps to sit in the other chair. The person who receives my CV is almost never the one who decides the hire: it is someone reviewing dozens of documents in a short time and building a short list. What they want is simple.

To tell within a minute whether my profile has anything to do with the role and with the city where the vacancy is.
To see whether my track record is stable and coherent: roles that grow, periods that explain themselves, recognisable employers.
To check whether the education I mention matches what the role requires and where it stands.
To read duties and concrete achievements, not the generic job description they already know by heart.
To find a working phone number and email address without guessing or searching elsewhere.
To compare my document with others quickly, which means everyone follows the same order and the details sit in the same place.

Once I understood that, I stopped writing for myself and started writing for the reader. The same content, arranged differently, changes the answer I get.

What having it ready does for me

Applying to a posting without starting from zero each time: I open the file, adjust the profile and send.
Handing it over in print when an interview or a company asks for it at the last minute.
Using it as the base for a cover letter, for a job portal profile or for the application form I am asked to fill in by hand.
Keeping my exact start and end dates, full employer names and job titles at hand, which I later need for other paperwork.
Keeping my own record of where I sent the document and when, so I can follow up without applying twice.
Introducing myself to a client when I work for myself and need to show my background on a single sheet.

What the template includes

The file lays out the sections in this order. Each one is written as a guide: you delete the sample text, replace it with your own details and keep the structure.

Section	What goes there
Name and contact line	Full name centred, with city, phone, email and professional profile in a single line, separated by dots.
Professional profile	A paragraph of three or four lines with your years of experience, the areas you have worked in and the kind of role you are after.
Work experience	A table with four rows: employer, job title, period and duties or achievements. Most recent first.
Education	A table with institution, programme, status (completed, in progress, on hold) and year.
Courses and certificates	A short table with course name, provider and year. Only what relates to the role or to your field.
Skills	A list of four skills, each with a one-line example, so they do not sit there as bare words.
Languages	A table with language and level, written the way you would say it in a real conversation.
Personal details	ID number, date of birth, city, address, marital status and children. Only what the process asks for.
Availability	The role you are applying for, salary expectation, the date you can start and whether you can travel or relocate.
References	A table with name, relationship, occupation and phone number. People who have been told and have agreed to be contacted.
Footer and closing note	A two-line reminder that the document is checked before it is sent and that the details can be verified.

What to have at hand before you start

Filling in a CV from memory is the fastest way to get a date wrong. Before opening the file I put these on the table, on screen or on paper.

The exact start and end dates of every job, with month and year, as they appear on the certificates.
The full names of the employers and the exact job title I was hired under, not the one I ended up doing.
Certificates or diplomas, so I can copy the name of the programme without shortening it.
The phone numbers and email addresses of the people I will list as references, already told in advance.
A professional email address that carries my name, and a phone number I actually answer.
The description of the role I am applying for, so I can tune the profile and the duties to what is being asked.

How to use it, step by step

Download the file and save it under your own name before typing anything: for instance, cv-surname-name.docx. That way you never mix up versions.
Replace the name and the contact line. Check the email address and the phone number letter by letter; this is the mistake that loses more applications than any other.
Fill in the experience table from the most recent job backwards. In each row write two or three duties starting with a verb and, where you can, one achievement with a real number: how much, how many, or in how long.
Complete education and courses. If a programme is still running, write it as in progress rather than completed.
Draft the four skills with a short example each, taken from your own work.
Write the languages with an honest level and the personal details only if the process asks for them.
Call your references before you put them in the table and confirm they are willing to speak about you.
Write the professional profile last, with everything else in front of you: that way you summarise with facts instead of adjectives.
Delete the guide text, the brackets and any rows you did not use; adjust the footer with the closing note and check spelling and accents.
Export to PDF, open it on your phone and read it top to bottom. If anything overflows or looks wrong on screen, fix it before sending.

Mistakes that drain its value

An email address or phone number typed wrong. The document can be perfect and still never reach anyone.
Dates that do not add up: overlapping periods or long gaps with no explanation. Explain the gap in one line instead of hiding it.
Copying duties from the job description. The reader already knows what a warehouse assistant does; they want to know what you did.
Listing references without warning them. It is awkward for them and for you, and sometimes it costs you the opportunity.
Decoration that adds nothing: colours, frames, photos nobody asked for and tiny type so that everything fits. Less is more.
Spelling mistakes and missing accents, above all in your own name, the job title and the employer name.
Going past two pages. If it does not fit, cut the oldest material, not the font size.

When it is worth moving to a system

For one person looking for work, a Word template and a folder with clear file names are enough. I say that from experience: I tried to track my applications in a complicated file and ended up going back to the folder and a simple sheet with the date and the company name. Software earns its place when what has to be controlled grows and stops being a personal document. In my case that happened when I stopped sending CVs and started receiving them and, above all, when keeping track of assets, equipment and stock became daily work: that is when an inventory system such as Kardex Tauro came in, which is built for that and not for managing CVs. The difference is simple: if the thing you update once a year is a document, the template is enough; if what moves every day is stock references, receipts and issues, you need a system.

This model is a general guide for internal use: check with the company or institution you are applying to which documents they require, in what format they accept them and whether they ask for anything else, and keep a PDF copy of what you sent.

⬇ Download CV (.docx)

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#cv #resume #word template