Bridge the gap between education and career with the Living CV.
Track & showcase your growth, one module at a time.
As you attend an Adobe Creative Campus university, you have premium access to Adobe Express with your ac.uk credentials, enabling you to create a memorable CV that will help you to stand out from the crowd.
The information below explains how the Living CV programme and Adobe Express can help you to prepare for life beyond university.
Your university is an Adobe Creative Campus, giving students free premium access to *Adobe Express.
Login using your ac.uk credentials.
Contents:
- What is a Living CV, and what are the benefits?
- Get started with Adobe Express & CV templates
- CV Top Tips & Best Practices
- Adobe Learn Short-courses & Credly badges
What is a Living CV?
The Living CV is a document that develops and grows with you throughout your time at university.
As you're nearing graduation, you might find yourself wondering what it is that you've learned throughout your studies, or what skills you've developed. The Living CV helps you to avoid that last minute panic by encouraging you to develop your CV as you go.
What are the benefits?
✅ Track your progress. Keep a record of the skills & knowledge you acquire throughout your studies.
✅ Showcase Growth. Recognise and articulate the skills, knowledge and experience that make you, you.
✅ Career Readiness. By the time you graduate, you'll have a comprehensive and up-to-date CV that reflects your academic and personal development.
Get Started
For more information, come along to the Living CV session during Welcome Week, or ask a member of your careers team to for support.
- Launch Adobe Express in your browser or via the mobile app. Login using your ac.uk student credentials.
- Choose a CV template: Select a design that suits how you’d like to present yourself to recruiters and prospective employers, or start from scratch with a blank document.
- Name your file (e.g. Living CV). From the 'Your Stuff' tab, you may want to move the file to a new folder, making it easy to find in future.
Now that you've created your document, you will continue to revisit it throughout your studies to update your skills and experience as you go.
👀 Keep an eye out for your end of module evalutation emails, which will provide you with feedback & your newly acquired skills.
CV Top Tips & Best Practices
Make it Applicant Tracking System (ATS)-Friendly
- PDF file format (unless otherwise specified)
- Keyword optimisation (relating to industry/role)
- Avoid images/graphics. Most ATS cannot read images, charts or graphics.
- Use simple bullet points. Using intricate symbols for bullets may disorganise your CV when the tracking system analyses it.
- Learn more about applicant tracking systems
- Learn more about ATS-optimisation
Content
- Content first, design second. The most important part of a CV is the words within it.
- Tailor your content to the job description and industry/company you are applying to.
- Profile/summary. Think about your key specialisms and influences, and your USP (unique selling point).
- Link to your professional online presence. E.g. portfolio, blog, LinkedIn or Behance.
- Prioritise content effectively based on what you feel will be of interest to the employer.
Design
- Clear, concise design that doesn’t overshadow the content.
- Use clear headings. These help signpost the reader to different sections of your CV.
- Enhance readability with clear fonts. Using Adobe Express, we recommend Arial, Cambria, Garamond, or Times New Roman.
- Align colours & design to the style of your other self-promotion, such as online portfolios, LinkedIn, business cards, etc.
- Aim for one page of relevant information.
Tips
Using a template? Consider the design & choose one that is suitable for your subject area/industry.
Want to highlight more achievements? Earn Credly badges by completing our short Adobe Learn courses.
Video CV. Discover how a video CV could help you to stand out from the competition when applying for your dream job.
Adobe Learn
Make the most of your Adobe Creative Campus benefits to further enhance your CV.
With our short, bitesized Adobe Learn courses, you can earn digital Credly badges to add to your CV or LinkedIn. You'll find courses that are applicable to a variety of subject areas.
Why not try 'Job application essentials'? In this course, you will learn...
- Strategies for communicating your skills and experiences in interviews.
- Practical tips for taking professional-looking headshots.
- Techniques for weaving personal stories into your applications.
- Tips for crafting compelling headlines, summaries, and work experiences on LinkedIn.
- Guidance for tailoring resumes to specific job opportunities.
💡 Login with your ac.uk credentials
For more advice or guidance, please ask your university careers & employability teams for support.