Business CV Examples & UK Templates

Writing a great business CV is both an art and a science. You’ll need to include the right combination of numbers, details, and concrete achievements while also painting a picture of the soft skills you bring to the table in order to get deals done and advance the company.

This business CV example and writing guide is designed to serve as a general starting point for business professionals, whether you work in the C-suite, development, product, marketing, finance, or production. Here’s what we’ll cover in the following chapters:

• What does a businessperson do?
• How to write a business CV (tips and tricks)
• The best format for a business CV
• Advice on each section of your CV (summary, work history, education, skills)
• Professional CV layout and design hints.

What does a businessperson do?

The term “businessperson” (also called businessman or woman) is a general way to refer to anyone who works in the development or operations of a company or trade. Businesspeople can work in a variety of areas within the business including, but not limited to, management, accounting and finance, marketing, sales, operations, supply chain, logistics, product management and development, and business intelligence or development.

Businesspeople may work at all levels of a company, including the C-suite, or they may be entrepreneurs and or small business owners. Since businessperson is such a general term, it would be nearly impossible to list all of their duties and responsibilities. Instead, this guide is meant to serve as a starting point for crafting a great business CV that can be tailored to a specific job title or company.

How to write a business CV

The very first step in writing your business CV is understanding what sections to include. Your CV should contain the following elements:

• The CV header
• The CV summary (aka profile or personal statement)
• The employment history section
• The CV skills section
• The education section

These sections provide a useful framework as you begin to craft your business CV. These are the pieces of information a hiring manager will most likely be interested in. As you advance in your career, you may also choose to include additional sections like awards, memberships, or publications. 

There is some debate as to whether hobbies and areas of interest have a place on professional CVs. We recommend leaving off this information unless there is a clear connection to the job title or company you are applying to. For example, mentioning your love of trail running may be beneficial on a CV for an outdoor equipment company.

Within this guide, you’ll find sections from our adaptable business CV sample. These examples are meant to give you further inspiration for the structure of your CV. However, we always recommend tailoring your application to each job you apply for. 

Make sure to read the job description closely and make note of the key skills, qualifications, and responsibilities of the new role. Then, update each CV to clearly show how you embody these qualities and how you’ve handled similar responsibilities in your previous roles.

Choosing the best format for a business CV

When it comes to choosing the right format for your business CV, we recommend the reverse chronological structure. This CV format gets its name from the fact that it focuses on the employment history section where your previous jobs are listed from most recent to oldest. This is also the format that most hiring managers expect to see and is the most likely to get past automated CV scanners in use at many medium and large companies.

Other CV formats like the functional and hybrid models are best suited for students or those in independent careers. We only recommend these formats to candidates without much previous experience to show as they can make an applicant come across as inexperienced in their field.

CV summary example

The summary is the first section of your CV. These 3-4 sentences serve as an introduction to your skills and qualifications and are meant to encourage the hiring manager to continue reading the rest of your CV. You can also mention noteworthy employers in this section, but make sure to save the details for further down the page. See our adaptable CV summary sample below for more inspiration.

Employment history sample

The employment history section takes on particular importance on a business CV as this is the place you’ll be able to talk about the results you’ve brought about for your past employers. 

List your past jobs from most recent to oldest and create subheadings with the company name, job title, dates worked, and location. Under each one, add 4-5 bullet points detailing the types of responsibilities you had, the skills you used, and your most impressive accomplishments. 

Make sure to use action verbs in your bullet points to convey a sense of initiative and confidence. Check out our CV sample for more ideas on how to craft the employment history section.

CV skills example

The skills section of your CV is particularly important to employers because it provides a quick glance at your areas of expertise and your most relevant capabilities. Make sure to tailor this list to the exact needs of the job you are applying to by reviewing the job description before you begin to write. You should also aim to keep a balance between hard skills, which are technical or learned capabilities, and soft skills which are your personality traits or intrinsic qualities. See our adaptable CV sample below for more inspiration.

Business CV education example

Although degree requirements may vary depending on the exact business role you are applying to, the education section is still a staple of a complete CV as most employers will want to know about your educational background. Make sure to list degrees in reverse chronological order and give the program name, school name, dates attended, and location.

If you are a recent grad or have a particularly impressive educational accomplishment, you may also list it as a bullet point under the entry. See our adaptable CV example for the education section below.

CV layout and design

The layout and design of your CV serve an important purpose in communicating your professionalism and seriousness about the position. Begin by creating an attractive header to house your name and contact information including your LinkedIn profile or any relevant social media accounts. 

Make sure to keep a balance of white space to text and to be consistent about font sizes, styles, or other formatting choices like the use of bold or italics. To save time and avoid costly formatting mistakes, we recommend using a professionally designed CV template.

Key takeaways 

1. Business is a varied sector so make sure to tailor your CV for the specific job title and company you are applying to.
2. We recommend the reverse chronological CV format as the best choice for candidates with some degree of experience to show.
3. Offer numbers and statistics to make your impact in previous positions more memorable.
4. Don’t leave formatting to chance – our adaptable business CV sample can serve as a starting point for your own application.