The CV — building one that gets you into a games studio

Start here

What a CV actually is

A CV is a one-page, factual summary of what you can do, what you have made and where you learned it — written for a specific job, not for everyone. In games it has one purpose: to get someone to open your portfolio link, and then to survive the check that happens after they like your work.

1 pageTwo only if you have professional credits. You do not yet.

~20 secThe first read. Everything important goes in the top third.

RewrittenEach application. A CV sent unchanged to twelve studios reads that way.

Not the portfolioThe CV is the argument. The portfolio is the evidence.

Interactive

Take a CV apart

Below is a CV built for someone finishing a Level 3 course with no paid games experience — the position you are in. Switch the role to see how the same structure carries completely different evidence. Tap any section of the CV to find out what a studio does with it.

Test yourself

Spot the stronger line

Both options say roughly the same thing. One of them survives a twenty-second read. Pick the stronger.

Reference

Rules that hold, and myths that do not

Some of this contradicts general careers advice you may have been given. Games hiring is its own thing, and where they conflict, follow the games-specific version.

Do

Put your portfolio link in the header, as a plain readable address, not hidden at the bottom
Put projects above education — what you have made matters more than where you studied
Name software and {{engine|engines}} exactly: “Unreal Engine 5”, “Blender”, “Substance Painter”, “C#”
State your own contribution on every team project, in specific terms
Use numbers where they exist — team size, asset count, jam length, poly budgets
Keep one consistent look with your portfolio and profiles
Save and send as PDF, named Firstname-Lastname-CV.pdf

Do not

Include a photo, your date of birth, your full address or your marital status — UK studios do not want them
Use skill rating bars or star ratings; nobody knows what four stars in Maya means
Write “references available on request” — it wastes a line everyone assumes anyway
Claim software you cannot use in front of someone. It is tested at interview
List “socialising, music, films” under interests. Use that space for {{jam|game jams}}, communities and personal projects
Use a novelty email address, or one you no longer check daily
Send a Word file, which reformats itself on someone else's machine

Go further

Where to read more

All UK-focused and free. The first two are the ones to use while writing; the rest are for working out which role you are aiming at.

Grads in Games — CV advicegradsingames.comThe most directly useful page here. Section-by-section guidance written for people with no industry experience, plus downloadable CV templates. Skillsearch — writing a games CVskillsearch.comWritten by recruiters who place people into studios. Good on length, tone and what makes a CV memorable for the right reasons. Into Games — careers hubintogames.org/careersUK non-profit. Explains each discipline day-to-day, what skills it needs and what a good portfolio for it looks like. Free resources and events. ScreenSkills — games job profilesscreenskills.comEvery role in the industry, with the qualifications and routes in for each. Use it to find the exact job title to write at the top of your CV. ScreenSkills — games career mapscreenskills.comA printable map of how roles connect and where each one leads. Useful for the medium- and long-term aims in your progression plan. Prospects — video game careersprospects.ac.ukCareers service overview of the sector, including apprenticeship routes as an alternative to university. National Careers Servicenationalcareers.service.gov.ukGovernment profile with realistic salary bands and entry requirements. Useful for the funding and routes research in your progression work. Ukie — careers in gamesukiepedia.ukie.org.ukThe UK games trade body's own list of career resources, including their map of games companies across the country.

Next lesson

Before you write yours

You will build your own CV in class. Bring the answers to these, because you cannot write a good CV from memory — the specifics are what make it work, and the specifics are what you will not remember.

Open the CV Builder →

When you have the answers, the CV Builder is where you write yours: a first version with no help, a check of what it gets wrong, then a rebuilt one you can print.