How to create your perfect CV in Pages

Writing a CV is usually the first step to getting a job and often the first time a prospective employer will have any form of contact with you, so it’s important to make the right impression. The ready-designed templates in Pages are a great starting point but it’s also very easy to design your own. The key things to remember is that it should be legible, clean and professional – avoid using excessive flourishes such as photographs and graphics. Bear in mind that most CVs will be printed in black and white and some may even be scanned into a database, so keep colour to a minimum and stay away from novelty fonts. However, your CV should also reflect the nature of your profession, so if you happen to be a graphic designer, you should consider being a little more daring when selecting fonts and colour. Follow these basic steps which show you exactly what you need to do to land the job of your dreams.

1: Launch Pages

Open Pages and choose a blank template from the template options. Create a text box and use guides to align the box to the top of the page.

2: Fonts

Align the text to the centre, key in your name and profession, then open the Fonts palette. Choose the font you want and use the slider to increase the size.

3: Using weight and tone

Use a heavier weight of the same font for the profession and use the slider to reduce the colour to 50%. This adds emphasis without cluttering the page.

4: Add details

Add your contact details next. Use the same font, but reduce it to 10 or 12pt (standard body copy size). Use bold to highlight email and telephone headers.

5: Text

Starting with your profile, you can begin adding text. For headers, use a heavier weight and 50% colour. Use the Text inspector to add bullet points if required.

6: Copy

When one section of text is finished, use the Copy tool to repeat it by selecting the text so it’s highlighted blue. Head up to the Edit menu and pick Copy.

7: Paste

Move the cursor beneath the text you are copying, go to the Edit menu, select Paste and type over the top. This ensures that the text style stays identical.

8: Finish and Export

Make sure you check contact details, grammar and spelling before you finish. Then head to the Share drop-down menu and select Export.

9: PDF

It’s likely that you’ll have to email your CV at some point. To enable both PC and Mac users to read the file, select PDF>Best for Image Quality. Then, click Next to Export.

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