Original CV templates
Original CV templates that stand out
Make your application more memorable with an original CV that moves beyond the standard format without losing sight of what recruiters need to know. Distinctive typography, colour and unexpected visual touches can give your CV its own identity while keeping your experience and skills easy to understand.
Explore our original CV templates, choose a style that feels right for your application and customise it online. You can start creating for free and download your finished CV as a PDF when you’re ready to apply.
Distinctive templates
Easy to customise
Professional structure
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Original CV Template Collection
Original CV templates, ready to customise
Explore original CV templates for candidates who want something different from a conventional application. Each template introduces its own character while preserving the sections recruiters expect to find.
Choose a template below and personalise it with your experience, skills and qualifications. The goal isn’t to be different at any cost, but to create an application that feels individual while remaining professional.
Be different for the right reasons
Why choose an original CV template?
Most CVs follow familiar conventions, and that’s often useful. An original CV keeps the information employers expect while introducing distinctive elements that can make your application more recognisable and personal.
Stand out from standard CVs
An unconventional touch can distinguish your application from documents that use almost identical presentation, particularly when employers receive a large number of CVs.
Create a memorable impression
A recognisable visual identity can make your CV easier to remember after it has been reviewed, provided the content gives the recruiter a good reason to remember you.
Show some individuality
Your CV doesn’t have to look exactly like everyone else’s. Carefully chosen visual details can give the document character while your experience remains the main focus.
Be different without losing clarity
Originality works best when recruiters can still immediately recognise your profile, experience, education and skills. A distinctive CV should remain a professional CV.
Original CV Examples
See original CV examples for different profiles
An original CV can serve very different candidates. Explore three original CV examples to see how the content and emphasis can change depending on your experience and career situation.
Lucy Evans
Customer Experience Assistant
Motivated school leaver with customer-facing experience gained through volunteering, weekend work and extracurricular activities. Friendly, reliable and confident communicating with different people, with a strong interest in developing a career in customer experience and retail.
Work Experience
Volunteer Shop Assistant
Oxfam, Cardiff
- Welcome customers and help with product enquiries in a busy charity shop
- Process donations and prepare items for display on the shop floor
- Operate the till and support colleagues during busy weekend periods
- Helped reorganise product displays to make key categories easier for customers to browse
Event Assistant
Cardiff Community Festival
- Welcomed visitors and provided information throughout a two-day community event
- Worked with a team of volunteers to prepare activity areas and manage visitor flow
- Responded to questions and directed visitors to activities and facilities
Education
A Levels — Business, English Language, Sociology
Cardiff Sixth Form
Key Skills
- Customer service
- Communication
- Teamwork
- Organisation
- Microsoft Office
- Social media
Interests
- Photography
- Running
- Community events
Thomas Wilson
Account Manager
Account Manager with 6 years’ experience developing client relationships and coordinating projects across digital and professional services. Strong communicator with a track record of retaining key accounts, identifying commercial opportunities and bringing internal teams together to deliver client objectives.
Work Experience
Senior Account Manager
Forward Partners, London
- Manage a portfolio of 18 client accounts with responsibility for retention and account growth
- Increased revenue across existing accounts by 21% through renewals and additional services
- Coordinate project delivery between clients, commercial teams and internal specialists
- Prepare quarterly reviews and recommendations for senior client stakeholders
Account Executive
Clearpoint, London
- Supported day-to-day relationships across a portfolio of B2B clients
- Prepared proposals, reports and client presentations
- Coordinated deadlines between sales, marketing and delivery teams
Education
BA (Hons) Business Management
University of Reading
Key Skills
- Account management
- Client relationships
- Commercial development
- Project coordination
- Presentations
- Negotiation
Interests
- Football
- Travel
- Food & cooking
Rebecca Turner
HR Coordinator
Customer service professional transitioning into human resources after 7 years in team-based and supervisory roles. Experienced in onboarding new employees, resolving workplace issues and supporting colleagues in fast-paced environments. Recently completed a CIPD qualification and now looking to develop these transferable skills in a dedicated HR role.
Work Experience
Team Supervisor
Harrison Retail, Birmingham
- Supervise a team of 12 employees and coordinate rotas, training and day-to-day workload
- Support recruitment interviews and induction for new team members
- Conduct regular one-to-one meetings and provide feedback on performance
Customer Service Adviser
Harrison Retail, Birmingham
- Handled customer enquiries and resolved complaints across phone, email and in-store channels
- Supported new colleagues during their initial training period
Education
BA (Hons) Sociology
University of Birmingham
Key Skills
- Employee support
- Onboarding
- Communication
- Conflict resolution
- Team supervision
- HR administration
Interests
- Volunteering
- Wellbeing
- Hiking
Originality doesn’t come from using an unusual format for its own sake. Your CV should still adapt to your situation: a first-time applicant can emphasise transferable experience and education, an established professional can focus on measurable achievements, and a career changer needs to make the connection between past experience and a new direction clear.
Different, not difficult
How original should your CV be?
An original CV should give the recruiter something distinctive to remember without asking them to learn a completely new way to read an application.
You can move beyond a conventional CV through unexpected typography, colour, section placement or other visual touches. But your name, professional profile, employment history and key skills should still be immediately recognisable.
A useful test is simple: if an unusual element makes your experience harder to understand, it probably isn’t helping. Originality should add character to strong content rather than compete with it.
- Distinctive character
- Familiar CV sections
- Easy to navigate
- Content comes first
When standing out matters
Who should use an original CV?
An original CV isn’t restricted to creative careers. It can be useful whenever you want to give your application more individuality, provided the approach remains appropriate for the employer and role.
First-time applicants
Candidates with limited professional experience can use a distinctive presentation to create a strong first impression while giving appropriate prominence to education, transferable skills and practical experience.
Candidates in competitive fields
When employers receive many candidates with similar qualifications, a recognisable CV can help your application feel less interchangeable — as long as the content gives them a reason to keep reading.
Career changers
A career change is already a new professional chapter. An original template can support that repositioning while your profile and transferable achievements explain why your previous experience matters.
Personality-led roles
Roles involving communication, customer relationships, events, media or brand representation may give you more room to show individuality through your application.
Original CV ideas
How to make your CV stand out
Making a CV original doesn’t mean changing everything. Often, a few deliberate choices are enough to give an application its own identity while preserving the conventions that make a CV easy to use.
Find one distinctive idea
Give your CV a recognisable feature rather than filling it with competing effects. That could be an unexpected accent colour, distinctive headings or another visual detail used consistently throughout the document.
Make your opening memorable
Your professional profile is one of the best places to differentiate yourself through content. Replace generic claims with a concise introduction that explains your experience, strengths and direction in terms specific to you.
Use achievements to stand out
Being memorable isn’t only about appearance. Specific results, numbers and examples make your experience more individual because they show what you actually contributed rather than repeating standard responsibilities.
Keep familiar signposts
Recruiters shouldn’t have to hunt for your employment history or qualifications. Keep important sections clearly labelled even when other aspects of the CV take a less conventional approach.
Match originality to the employer
What feels appropriate for a start-up may not suit a traditional professional environment. Research the organisation and adjust how far you move away from convention accordingly.
Find your style
Compare original CV templates with other styles
Original templates prioritise individuality, but you may prefer a more contemporary, expressive or restrained approach. Compare the main characteristics before choosing a template for your application.
| Original This page | Modern View templates | Creative View templates | Simple View templates | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall feel | Distinctive | Contemporary | Expressive | Straightforward |
| Individuality | Strong | Moderate | Strong | Subtle |
| Unconventional touches | More frequent | Limited | Possible | Minimal |
| Broad professional use | Depends on context | Strong | Depends on role | Strong |
| Competitive applications | Strong potential | Strong | Strong potential | Strong |
| Traditional environments | Consider context | Well suited | Consider context | Well suited |
| Should remain | Yes | Should remain | Yes |
ATS compatibility
Can an original CV be ATS-friendly?
Originality and ATS compatibility aren’t automatically incompatible. The potential problem comes when an unconventional CV relies on a structure that recruitment software may struggle to interpret.
If you’re applying through an Applicant Tracking System, keep the underlying organisation straightforward. Important information should remain as text, sections should have recognisable headings and your employment history should follow an understandable sequence.
No template can guarantee successful ATS screening. Your CV also needs relevant content that accurately reflects your experience and the requirements of the vacancy.
Familiar headings
Originality doesn’t require renaming standard sections. Familiar headings such as Work Experience, Education and Skills remain useful.
Text-based information
Keep essential details as readable text rather than relying on icons, graphics or other visual elements to communicate their meaning.
Clear reading order
Even an unconventional-looking CV should have an obvious sequence through your profile, career history and supporting information.
Relevant keywords
Adapt your experience and skills to the vacancy where they genuinely match your background. Visual originality can’t compensate for irrelevant content.
How it works
Create an original CV in four steps
Start with a distinctive template and make it your own without having to build your CV from scratch.
Choose your template
Explore our original CV templates and choose one that gives your application the right level of individuality.
Add your experience
Enter your profile, work experience, education and skills, or import an existing CV to give yourself a head start.
Make it personal
Customise the available options and, more importantly, tailor your content so the finished CV reflects your own experience rather than reading like a generic example.
Download your CV
Review the document carefully and download your finished CV as a PDF when you’re ready to apply.
Original CVs in the UK
Can your UK CV be different from the standard format?
UK employers don’t require every CV to look the same. You have room to give your application individuality, but some conventions remain useful because recruiters already understand them.
Your contact details, professional profile, work experience, education and relevant skills should remain straightforward to identify. For most candidates with an established employment history, presenting recent experience first also gives recruiters a familiar way to understand career progression.
Where you have more freedom is in how you make that information feel like your own. A distinctive introduction, carefully chosen visual accents and stronger achievement-focused writing can all make a CV more memorable without changing its fundamental purpose.
Consider the employer before moving further away from convention. A young company or personality-led role may welcome a more individual application, while a highly traditional organisation may favour a classic CV or simple CV.
Most importantly, don’t rely on originality alone. Recruiters still need evidence that you can do the job. A CV stands out most effectively when distinctive presentation is backed by relevant experience and specific achievements.
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