Sample CVs for 30 common jobs are most useful when they show you the bits that change from job to job. The headline. The kind of result worth a bullet point. The one detail a recruiter in that field looks for first. The rest of a good CV follows the same pattern whether you stack shelves or write code, so we cover that once, section by section, and then get specific.
This guide is for anyone writing or rewriting a CV who wants a concrete starting point. Below you will find notes on each CV section, then 30 jobs grouped into six fields, each with a sample headline, a sample bullet and a short note on what matters most. Borrow the shape, swap in your own facts and numbers, and you will have a strong draft in an evening.
Quick picks: templates and tools for writing your CV
| Product | Best for | Price | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quillmark ATS Resume Kit | One-page, two-page and entry-level layouts | $7.49 | View |
| Slatewell ATS Resume Template | Experienced, student and executive layouts | $7.49 | View |
| Wellspoken LinkedIn and Interview Workbook | Turning CV bullets into interview answers | $6.99 | View |
| Offerline Job Application Tracker | Keeping track of every tailored CV you send | $5.99 | View |
Notes on each CV section
Every sample below sits inside the same basic structure. Get these sections right and the job-specific parts slot in neatly.
Header
Name, phone, email, town or city, and a LinkedIn link if you have a decent profile. No date of birth, no full address, no photo unless it is normal in your country and sector. Keep it in the body of the page, not the document header.
Headline
One line under your name that says what you are, ideally matching the job title in the ad. It tells the reader in a second that you belong in the right pile.
Personal statement or summary
Two or three lines: your role, your experience and one result. Skip the clichés about being hard-working and a team player. Show it instead with a fact.
Experience
Most recent job first. Job title, employer, town, and dates on the right. Three to five bullets for recent roles, each starting with an action verb and ending, where possible, with a number or result. Older roles need only one or two lines.
Skills
Eight to twelve skills, using the words from the job ad where they are true. Mix practical skills (forklift licence, Excel, phlebotomy) with people skills shown elsewhere in your bullets.
Education and training
Highest qualification first. Recent graduates can add relevant modules, a dissertation title or grades. Everyone should list licences and certificates the job requires, such as a driving licence, a food hygiene certificate or a DBS check.
Extras
Volunteering, languages, relevant hobbies or projects. Include them if they show something the job values. Leave them out if they are filler.
A template with these sections already laid out makes the samples below much quicker to use.
Quillmark ATS Resume Kit
Price: $7.49 | Best for: anyone building a CV from scratch
Quillmark is a set of six matching Word templates, each in US Letter and A4, that open in Word or Google Docs. It includes a one-page CV, a two-page CV with Key Achievements, Certifications and Volunteer sections, and an Entry-Level layout with education first. A cover letter, references page and job search tracker are included. Choose the layout for your level, then work through the sections in the order above.
How to use these samples
Each sample gives a headline, one example bullet and a note. Treat the bullet as a shape, not a script. Keep the structure, verb plus task plus result, and swap in your own setting, numbers and tools. A bullet that is true, specific and yours always beats a polished one copied word for word.
If you are short on numbers, think about volume (customers a day, orders a shift), speed (how quickly), quality (complaints, errors, audits passed) or trust (keys held, cash handled, new staff trained). Almost every job has one of these.
Retail and hospitality
| Job | Sample headline | Sample bullet | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Retail sales assistant | Retail Sales Assistant, Fashion | Served up to 150 customers a shift and hit weekly add-on sales targets 10 weeks running. | Show volume, cash handling and any targets met. |
| 2. Barista | Barista, High-Volume Coffee Shop | Prepared 200+ drinks per morning rush while keeping order times under 4 minutes. | Speed under pressure and hygiene certificates matter most. |
| 3. Waiter or server | Restaurant Server, 80-Cover Venue | Looked after 6 to 8 tables a shift and trained 4 new starters on the till system. | Mention covers, upselling and allergen knowledge. |
| 4. Store manager | Store Manager, Multi-Site Retail | Led a team of 18 and lifted store sales by 12% year on year while cutting staff turnover. | Lead with sales, team size and stock results. |
| 5. Hotel receptionist | Front Desk Receptionist, 120-Room Hotel | Checked in up to 60 guests a day and resolved booking issues with no escalations to management. | Booking systems, languages and calm complaint handling. |
Healthcare and care
| Job | Sample headline | Sample bullet | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6. Healthcare assistant | Healthcare Assistant, Acute Medical Ward | Supported 10 patients a shift with personal care, observations and mobility, recording all checks accurately. | List clinical skills like observations and manual handling. |
| 7. Registered nurse | Registered Nurse, Paediatrics | Managed care for 6 to 8 children per shift and mentored 3 student nurses through placements. | Registration number, specialism and mentoring up front. |
| 8. Care worker | Home Care Worker | Visited 8 to 10 clients a day, supporting meals, medication prompts and personal care with full records kept. | Reliability, driving licence and safeguarding training. |
| 9. Pharmacy assistant | Pharmacy Assistant, Community Pharmacy | Processed around 120 prescriptions a day and handled stock ordering for over-the-counter lines. | Accuracy and any accredited training count most. |
| 10. Dental receptionist | Dental Receptionist, 4-Surgery Practice | Managed bookings for 4 dentists and cut missed appointments with a reminder call routine. | Practice software, payments and patient manner. |
In regulated jobs, the qualification or registration is often the very first thing a recruiter checks. Put it in your headline or the first line of your summary, not on page two.
Office, admin and customer service
| Job | Sample headline | Sample bullet | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11. Administrative assistant | Administrative Assistant | Managed diaries for 3 managers and rebuilt the shared filing system for a 20-person office. | Software, organisation and anything you improved. |
| 12. Receptionist | Receptionist, Corporate Office | Greeted 50+ visitors daily and ran a switchboard handling around 100 calls a day. | Front-of-house manner and multitasking. |
| 13. Customer service advisor | Customer Service Advisor, Contact Centre | Resolved 60 calls and chats a day with a customer satisfaction score above team average. | Volume, satisfaction scores and systems used. |
| 14. Bookkeeper | Bookkeeper, Small Business Clients | Kept books for 12 small businesses, reconciling accounts monthly and preparing VAT returns on time. | Software, client count and deadlines met. |
| 15. Executive PA | Executive Assistant to Managing Director | Organised travel and board meetings across 3 time zones and acted as first point of contact for the MD. | Discretion, seniority of who you support and events run. |
Education and childcare
| Job | Sample headline | Sample bullet | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16. Teaching assistant | Teaching Assistant, Key Stage 1 | Supported a Year 2 class of 28, running daily phonics groups for 6 pupils who needed extra help. | Age group, SEN experience and interventions led. |
| 17. Primary teacher | Primary Teacher, Upper Key Stage 2 | Raised Year 6 reading results above the school’s previous year and led the reading club. | Qualified status, subject leads and pupil progress. |
| 18. Nursery practitioner | Early Years Practitioner, Level 3 | Key person for 8 children aged 2 to 3, writing learning journals and weekly parent updates. | Qualification level, first aid and safeguarding. |
| 19. Private tutor | Maths Tutor, GCSE and A Level | Tutored 15 students a week, with most improving by at least one grade over a school year. | Subjects, levels and student results. |
| 20. Youth worker | Youth Worker, Community Programmes | Ran weekly sessions for 25 young people aged 11 to 16 and co-designed a summer programme. | Group size, programmes run and safeguarding checks. |
For a layout that suits teaching and other professional roles with longer histories, a two-page template with a clear Key Achievements section works well.
Slatewell ATS Resume Template
Price: $7.49 | Best for: professionals with a longer history
Slatewell is a single-column CV kit for Word and Google Docs with four layouts, including 1 and 2-page CVs, an Executive layout with Career Highlights and Core Competencies, and a layout for students and graduates. It comes with two cover letters, a references page and a thank-you letter in four colourways and US Letter and A4, plus a job search tracker. Pick the layout that matches your level and paste in your section notes.
Trades, logistics and hands-on work
| Job | Sample headline | Sample bullet | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21. Warehouse operative | Warehouse Operative, Counterbalance Licence | Picked and packed 300+ items per shift with an accuracy rate well above site target. | Licences, pick rates and safety record. |
| 22. Delivery driver | Multi-Drop Delivery Driver | Completed 100+ drops a day across a 60-mile route with a clean driving record. | Licence category, route size and customer feedback. |
| 23. Electrician | Qualified Electrician, Domestic and Commercial | Completed full rewires for 30+ homes and passed every inspection first time. | Qualifications, card schemes and job types. |
| 24. Chef | Sous Chef, 120-Cover Restaurant | Ran the pass on busy services and cut weekly food waste by reworking prep lists. | Covers, cuisine, hygiene rating and cost control. |
| 25. Cleaner | Commercial Cleaner, Office Buildings | Cleaned 3 office floors each evening and trusted with key holding and alarm codes. | Reliability, trust and any chemical safety training. |
Hands-on CVs are often read on a phone in a site office or a van. Keep them to one page, put licences and tickets near the top, and use short bullets.
Tech, sales and creative
| Job | Sample headline | Sample bullet | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 26. Junior software developer | Junior Developer, JavaScript and Python | Built a booking feature used by 2,000 customers and cut page load time by around a third. | Languages, projects with links and what they did. |
| 27. IT support technician | IT Support Technician, 1st and 2nd Line | Closed 25 to 30 tickets a day and set up laptops for 40 new starters. | Systems supported, ticket volume and certificates. |
| 28. Sales representative | Field Sales Representative | Beat quarterly target in 5 of 6 quarters and opened 22 new accounts in one year. | Targets, new business and average deal size. |
| 29. Marketing assistant | Marketing Assistant, Social and Email | Grew the company’s email list from 3,000 to 8,000 in a year with a monthly newsletter. | Channels, tools and growth numbers. |
| 30. Graphic designer | Graphic Designer, Brand and Print | Designed packaging for a 12-product range now stocked in regional shops. | Portfolio link at the top and named projects. |
For senior versions of these roles, our guide to an executive CV template covers what hiring managers at that level expect to see.
Turning sample bullets into interview stories
Every bullet on your CV is a promise that you can tell the story behind it. If you write cut weekly food waste by reworking prep lists, expect to be asked how. A good habit is to write a short story for each of your best bullets using four parts: the situation, the task, what you did and the result. Four or five sentences each. When the interview comes, you are ready, and that calm feeling walking in is worth the half hour it took.
It also helps to keep your LinkedIn profile in step with your CV, with the same job titles, dates and key results, since many recruiters check one after the other.
Wellspoken LinkedIn and Interview Workbook
Price: $6.99 | Best for: people preparing for interviews
Wellspoken is a two-part kit that pairs with your CV. The LinkedIn half gives you headline formulas, 30 example headlines and About section templates so your profile matches your CV. The interview half has 50 common questions, STAR answer worksheets and research pages for the company and your salary range. Use it as a 50-page fillable PDF or edit it in Word and Google Docs. Start with STAR sheets for your three strongest bullets.
Mistakes to avoid when using sample CVs
Copying bullets word for word. Recruiters see the same phrases over and over. Keep the shape, change the substance.
Inventing numbers. If you don’t know the exact figure, use an honest estimate like around 40 a day. Never make one up.
Listing duties instead of results. Responsible for stock tells the reader nothing new. Reorganised the stockroom so deliveries were put away in half the time tells them a lot.
Forgetting the cover letter. Your CV and letter should tell the same story. Our guide to a cover letter that matches your CV shows how to line them up.
Frequently asked questions
What should a basic CV include?
A header with contact details, a headline, a short summary, work experience with bullet points, skills, and education and training. Add volunteering or projects if they are relevant to the job.
How do I write a CV for a job I have never done?
Lead with a summary and a skills section that match the new role, then show transferable results from past jobs, study or volunteering. Put relevant training near the top.
How many bullet points should each job on a CV have?
Three to five for recent roles and one or two for older ones. Each should start with a verb and, where possible, end with a result.
Is it okay to use a sample CV as a template?
Yes, as a guide to structure and tone. Replace every detail with your own true facts and numbers, and tailor it for each job you apply for.
What is the difference between a CV and a resume?
In the UK, Ireland and many other countries, CV is the everyday word for the one or two-page document used to apply for jobs. In the US, that document is usually called a resume, and CV often means a longer academic record.
Your next step
Find your job, or the closest one, in the tables above. Copy its headline and bullet shape into a blank document, then write three more bullets of your own using real numbers from your work. Pour the result into a layout built for your level, like the Quillmark ATS Resume Kit, and you will have a first draft by bedtime.