Imperial College CV Template

Imperial College's Careers Service teaches a UK CV optimized for science and engineering employers. The most distinctive features: a Personal Profile at the top of every CV, an explicit recommendation that the document be both ATS-friendly and AI-screening-friendly, and a Skills section that surfaces the technical stack high on the page rather than burying it at the end.

This template gives you that STEM-CV skeleton, with Skills positioned to be visible at first glance and a Personal Profile slot that frames the rest of the document.

• Length: 1–2 pages.
• Font: Arial or Calibri, 10–12 pt body, 12–14 pt name. Sans-serif is preferred for ATS-safety.
• Margins: 1.5–2 cm.
• Dates: right-aligned.
• Layout: single column, no tables, no text boxes — both confuse ATS and AI parsers.
• Photo, DOB, marital status: none.

The Personal Profile is mandatory in Imperial's guidance. 2–4 lines, third person without your name. Mention:

• What you study and where you are in the programme.
• Your technical specialism (e.g. computational fluid dynamics, structural biology, quantitative finance).
• The type of role you want.

Imperial Careers explicitly suggests writing the Personal Profile last, after the rest of the CV exists, so the framing matches the evidence.

Imperial teaches a Context-Action-Result bullet structure with a STEM emphasis — every bullet should ideally name a method, a tool, or a measurable outcome.

• Open with a verb that fits engineering or scientific work (Designed, Modelled, Implemented, Validated).
• Name the technique or tool (Python, COMSOL, LabVIEW, fMRI, SEM).
• Quantify outcome — accuracy, speedup, sample size, cost reduction.
• For research roles, name the PI and the group.
• Treat substantial project work (UROP, group projects, hackathons) as Experience if the technical content is there.

Education leads the CV through graduation and for the first year or two after.

• Imperial College London, then degree (e.g. MEng Aeronautical Engineering), then graduation date.
• Final classification (predicted or actual).
• Final-year project or thesis title, with supervisor.
• Relevant modules in a single comma-separated line, tailored to the target role.
• A-Levels / IB / equivalent in compact form for current students.

Skills is a visible section on an Imperial CV — typically directly under Education or the Personal Profile so a recruiter sees the stack within the first quarter of the page. Group entries:

• Programming / Software: languages and tools you've shipped real work with.
• Engineering / Lab: instrumentation, simulation packages, fabrication.
• Languages: CEFR levels (A2, B2, C1) rather than self-rated fluency.
• Certifications: e.g. AWS, PRINCE2, AMBA chartership progress.

• Skipping the Personal Profile. Imperial Careers treats it as a baseline expectation.
• Burying Skills at the bottom. For STEM, the stack should be visible high on the page.
• Generic verbs ("worked on", "helped with"). Engineering recruiters scan for specificity.
• Tables and text boxes. Imperial flags these as ATS- and AI-unfriendly.
• Listing modules you didn't engage with. A short, targeted list beats an exhaustive one.