Creative and alternative CVs

In most cases, a typical CV of two pages is what an employer expects, but there are times when presenting your CV in a creative way or alternative format can help you stand out from the crowd. If done well, this can show off your creative talents and get you noticed in your desired industry.

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When to use a creative CV or alternative format

Before applying to any role it is first important to consider whether a ‘creative’ or ‘traditional’ CV would be most effective. Some of the questions you may ask include:

Does a creative CV complement the company/role you’re applying for?
Does it reflect the most positive impression of you and your work?

Alternative CV’s formats can be particularly effective when using a speculative approach to your job search to gain an employer's attention.

Creative CV Examples

Take a look at our Creative CV examples for industries including Fashion and textiles, Graphic Design and Illustration.

These examples show creative ways to adapt a standard 2-page CV format.

Creative CV Examples

Creative CV resources

Each of the creative industries has ways in which you can tailor your CV design. You can get more information about getting into these industries through our Career Guides.

Below is a list of useful links to help you create your CV according to the industry you are applying for.

Architecture and Design Graduates – How to Secure Your First Position – Part 1 - Writing Your CV, Writing a Cover Letter
CV toolkit for Architecture students - First in Architecture
Architecture CV and Covering Letters - LinkedIn

Artsquest - promotion and application tools
Writing an artist statement? First ask yourself these four questions - The Guardian
Promote yourself - Artquest's guide to self-promotion

Grads in Games
datascope - CV advice for programmers, artist and animators, games/level designers

Acting CV 101: Beginner Acting Resume Example for Inexperienced - Acting in London
How to create an acting CV in the UK - Backstage

Graphic designers share their top tips for a standout CV - The Stylist
How to create the perfect design resumé - Creative Bloq

Photography assistant CV example

How to write a CV for the film and TV industry
CV advice - My first job in film

Creating a graduate CV and covering letter for media and journalism jobs

Alternative CV formats

Presenting a CV in an alternative format showcases your creativity and technical skills - design, videography or web development.

Before creating an alternative CV it is essential to feel confident in your CV writing abilities first. Once you can sell your strengths and skills on paper, you can apply them more creatively in an alternative format.

Below are some of the alternative formats you can use when developing your CV

The Portfolio or ‘Taster’ CV is the second most common CV type used. You'll often be expected to present a Portfolio or Taster CV when seeking work within the design and creative industries.

A Portfolio CV follows the same format as a standard CV (one or two sides of A4 selling your key skills and achievements) but with more visual and design elements. Adding images of your work to your CV and/or adding a design to your document are a couple of the ways this can be achieved.

Visit our Portfolio Guide to get tips and advice on creating your professional portfolio.

Video CVs offer an excellent way to promote your brand and can help you stand out among the competition.

Video formats can be used with your written CV to attract an employer - particularly within the creative industries and for those with a large customer focus such as sales, media and marketing.
Check that you have full access to your video once it is uploaded and ensure your work can’t be edited or tampered with by others.

LinkedIn is an ideal platform where you can use video to promote examples of your work or demonstrate your creativity. You may also choose to create short videos offering tips and advice or based around a particular theme, for example, an insight into your voluntary or work experience. The following article on How to Use LinkedIn Video to Boost Engagement provides more information on how to do this, along with some examples.

Some other suggested places to go for information and guidance in this area are listed below:

Create a Great Video CV - Prospects
The Dos and Don’ts of Video CVs - TopUniversities
Tips for Making a Video Vitae - Our Graduates

You may also find it helpful to refer to some examples of video CVs for some inspiration and to see the different approaches individuals have taken. The following have attracted a lot of positive attention for their unique approaches to their video CVs:

Animated Video CVs - This article by Wyzowl provides some strong animated examples that have been used to demonstrate an individual's artistic talents in a range of creative areas including graphics and illustration. It includes a great social media example created by Mary Patterson, which proves that use of animation doesn’t necessarily have to be restricted to artistic disciplines.
Introduction to CV - Rather than taking on a full video CV, Graeme Anthony has used video to capture an initial introduction to himself before directing employers towards more detailed information. This short video carries immediate impact and gives us a greater insight into Graeme that is difficult to create in a written CV alone.
Mark Leruste- Mark’s video CV is full of personality and charisma that really helps to engage his audience and provide a likeability factor. Not only has he achieved this but he has been mindful to ensure that the video content he has pulled together is of a high quality and has ensured to articulate and evidence his key skills and achievements well.
Shafira Attasha - Shafira has pulled together an excellent overview of her experiences that allows us to see both an introduction to her and uses a good range of photographs, video clips and music to evidence her experience whilst providing an audio commentary. Shafira uses her video to acquire a role within the field of Electrical Engineering providing another example of how a video CV can be used outside of the creative sector.

As the name suggests, Interactive CVs actively engage your audience when accessing your material and encourage some form of reader participation. Presenting your information in this way not only helps your information to really stand out but it also provides you with an excellent opportunity to demonstrate your creativity along with your technical abilities.

There are a range of interactive elements you can use for your CV and what you choose should consider and reflect the type of industry you are looking to work in. For example, if you are looking for a computing role within the gaming industry you may wish to have a games-based format to your CV which encourages the reader to ‘play’ and use computer controls to access different sections of your content. A particularly well-known example of this type was created by Robby Leonardi who has created a character that you control to lead you through different areas of his CV.

For other industries it may be more appropriate to use other interactive features such as Nick Jones’ use of rotation in his CV which provides an effective and alternative way to introduce his abilities as a Web Designer.

A few other stand-out examples have been listed below:

The UK DOMAIN has some particularly helpful guidance on creating interactive CVs along with some examples within their article: ‘Stand out from the crowd with an interactive CV.' As well as examples the article explains how these have successfully managed to make a positive impression.

Instagram is increasingly being used as a tool for job searching, and as such, an Instagram CV (IGCV) could be an effective way to showcase your personal brand, and get you noticed by graduate employers within certain sectors. You might want to create an Instagram account that is separate from your personal one for your IGCV and job hunting activities.

As with all types of creative CV, it is important to strike a balance between the aesthetics and the content on an IGCV - you want it to look visually appealing, but also demonstrate your skills and experience effectively. Specifically with an IGCV, it is worth bearing in mind that ideally your content will need to span 9-12 squares, and will be ‘broken up’, so think about how this might look on your grid when designing it (i.e. try to avoid having text that is split across two squares).

Once you have designed your IGCV, use an app such as 9Cut Insta, 9Square or Photo Split. These will automatically break down your CV into squares and tell you in which order to upload them to your Instagram profile.