The Complete Guide to CV Formatting in 2026

A well-formatted CV makes a strong first impression and ensures your content is readable by both humans and ATS software. Here's everything you need to know about CV formatting in 2026.

Page Length

• 0-5 years of experience — 1 page
• 5-15 years of experience — 1-2 pages
• 15+ years or academic CVs — 2-3 pages

The one-page rule still applies for most early-career professionals. If you're going to two pages, make sure every line earns its place.

Fonts and Typography

Recommended Fonts

• Sans-serif: Inter, Calibri, Arial, Helvetica — clean and modern
• Serif: Georgia, Garamond, Cambria — traditional and elegant

Font Sizes

• Name: 18-24pt
• Section headings: 12-14pt, bold
• Body text: 10-11pt
• Minimum readable size: 9pt (use sparingly)

Stick to one font family throughout. You can use bold and size variations for hierarchy, but never more than two fonts.

Margins and Spacing

• Margins: 0.5-1 inch on all sides (0.75" is the sweet spot)
• Line spacing: 1.15-1.5 for body text
• Section spacing: 12-16pt between sections
• Bullet point spacing: 2-4pt between items

Tight margins (under 0.5") look cramped. Wide margins (over 1") waste space.

Section Order

The best order depends on your career stage:

Experienced Professionals

1. Contact Information
2. Professional Summary
3. Work Experience
4. Skills
5. Education
6. Certifications (if relevant)

Recent Graduates

1. Contact Information
2. Education
3. Projects / Internships
4. Skills
5. Volunteering / Activities

Career Changers

1. Contact Information
2. Professional Summary (emphasise transferable skills)
3. Relevant Experience
4. Skills
5. Education

Contact Information

Include at the top of your CV:

• Full name — Largest text on the page
• Phone number — With country code if applying internationally
• Email — Use a professional address (firstname.lastname@email.com)
• LinkedIn URL — Customise it (linkedin.com/in/yourname)
• Location — City and country only (no full address)
• Portfolio/GitHub — If relevant to the role

Don't include: Date of birth, photo (unless required by local convention), marital status, or national ID number.

Design Elements That Work

• Subtle colour accents — Use one accent colour for headings or dividers
• Consistent icons — Small icons for contact details look polished
• Horizontal dividers — Clean lines between sections aid readability
• White space — Don't fill every pixel; breathing room is essential

Design Elements to Avoid

• Photos — Unless standard in your country (Germany, France, etc.)
• Graphics and charts — Skill bars and pie charts waste space and aren't ATS-friendly
• Multiple colours — Stick to one accent colour plus black
• Decorative borders — They rarely add value and can cause parsing issues

File Format

• PDF is the safest choice for most applications — it preserves formatting across devices
• DOCX is preferred by some enterprise ATS platforms — check the job posting
• Never submit as .jpg, .png, or .pages

Using AceCV for Formatting

AceCV provides 32 professionally designed templates that handle all of these formatting decisions for you. Every template is ATS-tested, properly spaced, and available in multiple accent colours. Just pick a template, fill in your content, and download.

Key Takeaway

Good formatting is invisible — it lets your content shine without distracting from it. When in doubt, choose simplicity over creativity. Your CV's job is to communicate your qualifications clearly, not to win a design award.