👁️ Look
👆 Decide
🗂️ Sort
💭 Reflect
🔧 Fix It
📋 Look carefully at both CVs below
Both of these CVs were sent to the same café manager by students applying for a Saturday job. Read them carefully — notice everything. Don't click anything yet — just read!
📄 CV — Candidate A Alex Carter
🧑
Alex Carter
📧 alex.carter@schoolemail.com | 📍 Jersey
Personal Profile
I am a hardworking and enthusiastic Year 11 student at Riverside Academy. I enjoy working with people and have experience helping at local community events. My teachers describe me as reliable, friendly and a good communicator. I am looking for a part-time role where I can develop my customer service skills.
Key Skills
- Strong communication and teamwork
- Reliable and punctual
- Good with computers and Microsoft Word
- Works well under pressure
Education
| School | Subject | Predicted |
|---|---|---|
| Riverside Academy | English Language | Grade 6 |
| Riverside Academy | Mathematics | Grade 5 |
| Riverside Academy | Science | Grade 5 |
Hobbies & Interests
I volunteer at my local food bank on weekends. I am also part of the school drama club and play tennis for a local team.
📄 CV — Candidate B Jamie S.
JAMIE!!! 😎😎😎
my email is: jams2009_coolio_gamer@hotmail.com
CURRICULUM VITAE (its a cv lol)
ABOUT ME
im jamie and im 15. i go to school. i want a job because i need money. i am a good worker i think. my mum says im good at stuff. i like gaming and watching youtube all day. i am funny and my mates like me.
SKILLS!!!!
- good
- friendly maybe
- i can use a phone
- I WONT STEAL ANYTHING
- i am ok i guess
- friendly maybe
- i can use a phone
- I WONT STEAL ANYTHING
- i am ok i guess
school stuff
i go to a school near where i live. we do english and maths and stuff. i dont know my grades probably fine tho
references: my nan says im great
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ best candidate (self rated)
Lesson 1 Progress
5%
🎯 By the end of this lesson you will…
1
Know what a CV is and when you use one2
Identify the key sections of a CV3
Write a draft personal profile about yourself4
Start your CV document in Microsoft Word📋 So… what even is a CV?
A CV stands for Curriculum Vitae — a Latin phrase that means "the story of your life." Don't worry about the Latin! Think of it simply as a one or two page document about you.
When you apply for a job, work experience, or a college course, you send someone your CV. It's usually the first thing an employer reads about you — before they even meet you. So it needs to look good and say the right things!
Think of it like this… Your CV is like a trailer for a film. It needs to make people want to find out more about you. If the trailer is boring, they won't bother watching the film!
🎯 Activity 1 — Match the CV Section
Interactive
Click a section name on the left, then click what it means on the right. Can you match them all?
CV Section
Personal Profile
Key Skills
Education
Hobbies & Interests
What it means
Your school, subjects & grades
A short paragraph about who you are
What you do in your free time
Things you are good at
❓ Quick Check — Test Yourself
1. What does CV stand for?
2. When would you send someone your CV?
3. How long should a CV usually be?
🗂️ The 5 Key Sections of a CV
Most CVs have the same sections — like chapters in a book. Here they are:
1
Personal Details
Your name, phone number and email. No photo needed yet — we'll add one in Word!
2
Personal Profile
3–4 sentences about who you are, what you enjoy and what you're like as a person. This is the most personal part of your CV.
3
Key Skills
A bullet point list of your top strengths — like teamwork, communication, or being good with computers.
4
Education
Your school name, the subjects you study, and any grades or predicted grades.
5
Hobbies & Interests
Things you do outside school — sports, art, volunteering, gaming. This shows your personality!
🔀 Activity 2 — Sort the CV Sections
Drag & Drop
Drag the sections below into the correct order for a CV. The Personal Details always go first!
⠿
?
Key Skills⠿
?
Personal Details⠿
?
Hobbies & Interests⠿
?
Personal Profile⠿
?
Education
Lesson 1 Progress
40%
📘 Word Skill: Page Layout
Before you type anything, set up your page correctly. A CV needs narrow margins so you have more space.
📐 Step 1 — Set Your Page Margins
Margins are the empty space around the edge of your page. For a CV, we want them narrow so we have more room.
1
Open Microsoft Word
Create a new Blank Document. Don't use a template — we're building ours from scratch.
2
Click the Layout tab
Look at the tabs at the top of Word: Home, Insert, Draw, Layout… Click on Layout.
3
Click Margins → Narrow
In the Layout tab, click the Margins button. Choose Narrow from the list. Your page edges will get smaller.
4
Save your file right away!
Press Ctrl + S. Name it YourName_CV — for example: Emma_Jones_CV. Save it to your school folder.
Home
Insert
Layout ◀ click here
References
← Narrow margins set →
More space for your CV content
More space for your CV content
✅ Check! Your document name should now show in the top bar. If you can see YourName_CV.docx at the top — great job!
🔤 Step 2 — Type Your Name as a Heading
Your name goes at the very top of your CV, big and bold so it stands out.
1
Click on the page and type your full name
Just your name — nothing else yet.
2
Select your name
Click and drag over your name to highlight it — it will turn blue.
3
Make it bigger
In the Home tab, find the font size box (it shows a number like 11). Change it to 24. Press Enter.
4
Make it bold
Still with your name selected — press Ctrl + B. Your name should now be big and bold!
5
Centre it on the page
Press Ctrl + E to centre your name. It should now sit in the middle of the page.
Bold B
Size: 24
Centre ≡
Emma Jones
Your name should look like this ↑ big, bold, centred
• Step 3 — Add Section Headings with Bullet Points
📘 Word Skill: Bullet Points Bullet points make lists easy to read. They're perfect for CVs — especially for Key Skills.
After your name, we'll add the section headings. For now, just type these as bold text — we'll fill them in during the worksheet.
1
Press Enter twice after your name
This gives some breathing room. Change the font size back to 12 first.
2
Type: PERSONAL PROFILE
Make it bold (Ctrl+B), size 14, and left-aligned (Ctrl+L). Press Enter.
3
Leave 3 blank lines, then type: KEY SKILLS
Same formatting — bold, size 14. Press Enter.
4
Now turn on Bullet Points
Click the bullet point button in the Home tab (it looks like ≡ with dots). Type 3 placeholder skills for now — we'll change them later.
Quick shortcut: To turn off bullet points, just press Enter twice, or click the bullet point button again to switch it off.
✅ Activity 3 — Word Skills Checklist
Practical
Tick each task as you complete it in Word. Be honest — only tick it if you've actually done it!
I've opened a new blank document in Word
I've set the margins to Narrow
I've saved my file as YourName_CV
My name is at the top — size 24, bold, centred
I have a PERSONAL PROFILE heading (bold, size 14)
I have a KEY SKILLS heading with bullet points below it
I've saved again with Ctrl+S
Lesson 1 Progress
75%
How to use this worksheet: Fill in the boxes here to plan your ideas. Once you're happy with them, copy your answers into Word under the right headings. There are no wrong answers — this is about YOU!
Section 1 — Personal Details
This is the basic contact information at the top of your CV.
Section 2 — Personal Profile
3–4 sentences about who you are. Use the sentence starters below to help!
Use these sentence starters to help you:
• "I am a Year 9 student at [school] who enjoys…"
• "I am a hardworking person who…"
• "In the future, I would like to…"
• "My friends and teachers would describe me as…"
• "I am a Year 9 student at [school] who enjoys…"
• "I am a hardworking person who…"
• "In the future, I would like to…"
• "My friends and teachers would describe me as…"
Tell them your name, year group, and school.
What subjects or activities do you like? What are you good at?
Think about what your friends or teachers say about you.
Section 3 — Key Skills
Pick 4–6 skills from the list, or add your own. These go as bullet points in Word.
Can't think of any? Everyone has skills! Click on any of the suggestions below to add them.
Click suggestions above, or type your own and press Enter.
📷
Photo
(Lesson 2)
Photo
(Lesson 2)
Your Name Here
your.email@school.com · Your School
Personal Profile
Your personal profile will appear here as you type above…
Key Skills
Skill 1
Skill 2
Skill 3
✅ Now copy into Word! Take what you've written above and type it into your Word CV document — under the right headings. Remember: bullet points for Key Skills!
🎉
Lesson 1 Complete!
You now know what a CV is, have planned your Personal Profile and Key Skills, and have started your Word document. See you next lesson!
Lesson 2 Progress
5%
🎯 By the end of this lesson you will…
1
Insert and format a table in Word for your Education section2
Add and resize an image (your photo or an avatar)3
Use alignment and spacing to make your CV look clean4
Complete a partially filled CV ready to take home🖥️ Word Skills We're Learning Today
Today is all about making your CV look professional. Here are the three Word skills you'll learn:
Tables
Inserting Images
Page Alignment & Spacing
Why use a table for Education? A table lets you line up your school name, subject, and grade in neat columns — much neater than just typing it out!
🔁 Quick Recap from Lesson 1
1. What keyboard shortcut makes text bold in Word?
2. What should you set the margins to for a CV?
3. Which section uses bullet points?
Lesson 2 Progress
40%
📘 Word Skill: Tables A table is a grid of rows and columns. We'll use one to display your Education section neatly.
📊 Skill 1 — Insert a Table for Education
We'll create a 3-column table: one column for the school name, one for the subject, and one for the grade.
1
Open your CV Word document
Find the file you saved last lesson: YourName_CV.docx. Double-click to open it.
2
Click below your KEY SKILLS section
Press Enter a couple of times, then type EDUCATION in bold, size 14. Press Enter once.
3
Insert a Table
Click the Insert tab → click Table → move your mouse to select 3 columns, 3 rows → click to insert.
4
Add your headings in Row 1
Click in the first box and type School / College. Tab to the next box: Subject. Tab again: Grade / Predicted. Make all three bold.
5
Fill in your details in Rows 2 and 3
Row 2: your current school name, a subject you study, your predicted grade. Row 3: another subject. Use Tab to move between cells.
6
Format the table borders
Select all cells (click and drag). Right-click → Borders and Shading → choose All Borders. This makes the table look neat.
EDUCATION
| School / College | Subject | Grade / Predicted |
|---|---|---|
| Riverside Academy | Mathematics | Grade 6 |
| Riverside Academy | English Language | Grade 5 |
↑ Your table should look something like this
🧠 Activity 4 — Table Knowledge Check
Quiz
How many columns should your Education table have?
Which tab do you click to insert a table?
📘 Word Skill: Inserting Images You can add a photo to the top of your CV. It makes it personal. We'll insert it and then resize it so it fits neatly.
🖼️ Skill 2 — Insert & Resize a Photo
Some CVs include a small photo in the top corner. We'll add one using a free avatar if you don't have a photo ready.
1
Click at the very top of your document
Click just before your name at the top. We want to insert the image here.
2
Insert → Pictures → This Device
Click the Insert tab → Pictures → This Device. Find your photo or a downloaded avatar image.
3
Resize the image
Click the image once to select it. You'll see small squares at the corners — these are handles. Drag a corner handle (not a side one) to make it smaller. Aim for about 3cm × 3cm.
4
Set Text Wrapping to "Square"
Right-click the image → Wrap Text → Square. Now you can drag it to sit in the top-right corner of your name.
No photo? No problem! Go to Insert → Online Pictures and search for avatar silhouette — pick a simple professional one.
Important! Always drag a corner handle to resize — never a side handle. Side handles stretch the image and make it look squashed!
📘 Word Skill: Alignment & Spacing Spacing between sections makes a CV easier to read. Alignment means making sure things line up properly.
📐 Skill 3 — Spacing & Final Alignment
1
Add space between sections
Click at the end of each section. Press Enter once between sections. Don't press it lots of times — we'll use paragraph spacing instead.
2
Use Paragraph Spacing
Select a section heading. Go to Home → Line Spacing (the icon with lines and arrows) → Add Space After Paragraph. Do this for each heading.
3
Check your alignment
Your name: centred. Your section headings: left-aligned. Your body text and bullet points: left-aligned. Use Ctrl+E for centre, Ctrl+L for left.
4
Save one more time!
Press Ctrl+S. Your CV is nearly done!
✅ Activity 5 — Lesson 2 Word Skills Checklist
Practical
Tick each task as you complete it in Word.
I've added an EDUCATION heading (bold, size 14)
I've inserted a 3-column, 3-row table
My table has headings: School, Subject, Grade
I've filled in at least 2 rows of education details
I've inserted a photo or avatar image
My image is resized and positioned in the top corner
I've checked alignment — name centred, rest left-aligned
I've saved my file with Ctrl+S
Lesson 2 Progress
80%
Section 4 — Education
This goes in your table in Word. Fill it in here first to plan your answers.
Section 5 — Hobbies & Interests
Write 2–4 things you enjoy outside of school. These go as bullet points in Word.
Stuck? Think about: sports, music, gaming, art, cooking, animals, volunteering, YouTube, fashion, coding, reading…
📷
Your Photo
Your Photo
Your Name
—
Personal Profile
Complete in Lesson 1 worksheet
Key Skills
Add skills in Lesson 1
Education
| School | Subject | Grade |
|---|---|---|
| — | — | — |
| — | — | — |
Hobbies & Interests
- Add your hobbies above…
📋 Final Steps in Word
Use this checklist to finish your CV in Word before saving the final version to take home:
1
Copy your Education details into your table
Use your worksheet answers above.
2
Add a HOBBIES & INTERESTS heading
Bold, size 14. Then add your hobbies as bullet points below it.
3
Read through your whole CV
Check for spelling mistakes. Right-click red underlined words to see suggestions.
4
Save your final version
Press Ctrl+S. You're done! 🎉
👥 Activity 6 — Peer Review
Pair Work
Swap screens with the person next to you. Use this checklist to give them feedback on their CV in Word:
Their name is at the top — big, bold, centred ✓
They have a Personal Profile (at least 2 sentences) ✓
They have Key Skills as bullet points ✓
Their Education table has 3 columns ✓
They have a photo or avatar in the top corner ✓
The CV looks neat — good spacing, no giant gaps ✓
You can't spot any obvious spelling mistakes ✓
🏅 Word Skills You've Learned
Look how much you've picked up over these two lessons:
📐 Page Layout & Margins
🔤 Font Formatting
≡ Bullet Points
📊 Tables
🖼️ Inserting Images
↔️ Text Alignment
↕️ Paragraph Spacing
💾 Saving Files
🌟
You've built your CV!
You've learned real Word skills and created a professional CV from scratch. Save your file and take it home — you can keep adding to it as you get more experience.