Free CV examples for your job

A CV for shift work needs to prove three things: you turn up, you keep standards high when it gets busy, and you can be trusted on your own. If you’ve worked as a server, guard, housekeeper or caregiver, your CV won’t be full of product launches and budgets, and it doesn’t need to be.

Show reliability with plain facts

Say how long you stayed, which shifts you covered and any extra responsibility you were given. “Opened and closed the store four days a week” tells a manager more than the word “reliable” ever will. If you trained new staff or covered for a supervisor, say so.

Use numbers that fit the job

Numbers make shift work concrete, even when they’re small. Count what your job actually measured:

• Covers per shift or tables per section for servers
• Rooms cleaned to standard per shift for housekeepers
• Sites, floors or cameras covered for security guards
• Ages and number of children for nannies

Rough numbers are fine if they’re honest and you could explain them in an interview.

What to put on a security guard CV

Lead with your guard license or registration if your area requires one, plus any first aid certificate. Then describe the sites you covered, such as offices, shops, events or building sites, the patrols and camera monitoring you did and the incident reports you wrote. The security guard example shows how to word each line.

What to put on a housekeeping or cleaning CV

Name the setting, whether a hotel, a hospital or private homes, and how many rooms or areas you covered on a shift. Mention the standards you worked to, such as checklists or room inspections, any training in handling cleaning chemicals, and how you looked after keys, lost property and guest requests.

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What to put on a kitchen or food prep CV

Say what kind of kitchen it was and how busy service got, then list the stations you worked, the prep you handled and the food safety rules you followed. A line on how you kept up during the rush is worth more than “hard-working.”

What to put on a warehouse or picking CV

Name the kind of warehouse and the equipment you used, such as handheld scanners, pallet jacks or a forklift you’re certified to drive. If you were measured on pick rate or accuracy, give the figure. The picker/packer example shows how to word each line.

Name the skills that transfer

Cash handling, food safety, first aid, incident reports and dealing with complaints all carry over to the next job. Languages you use with customers count too. Put the skills the job ad mentions first, in its own words, and list any certificates, such as a food hygiene course, with the year you earned them.

Writing a CV for your first job

Lead with school, then add volunteering, sports, babysitting or helping in a family business. Each one counts as experience once you say what you did and who relied on you. Regular babysitting, for instance, shows that a family trusted you with their children; say how often you did it and for how long. Our CV guide has more on writing a first CV with little experience.

Explain short gaps simply

Shift work often comes in seasons or short contracts. A brief note such as “Seasonal role, summer months” answers the question before a manager has to ask it. A holiday retail job belongs on your CV too, with its dates and what the rush asked of you: busy checkouts, restocking between waves and returns.

Keep a shift-work CV short and easy to scan

A shift-work CV needs only one page for most hourly roles. Open each line with an action word, keep the newest job first and make your phone number easy to find.

Ready to write yours? Start from one of our free CV templates and borrow wording from the example that matches your work.