Harvard-style CV templates 2026 in English or Vietnamese

Harvard-style CV templates

One-column CVs in reverse chronological order with serif type and almost no colour. A good fit for corporations, audit firms, banks, scholarships and study abroad.

One column, read top to bottomEducation, experience and activities in reverse chronological order.Serif type, almost no colourPrints clearly in black and white, in an academic style.Vietnamese or EnglishChange the CV language and the headings follow.

Guide

Harvard-style CV templates: the one-column black-and-white CV, how to write each part and when to use it

7 sectionsAbout 2 min readUpdated 07/10/2026

"Harvard CV" is what job seekers call the layout that follows the CV-writing guidance common at American universities: one column, serif type, black and white, experience in reverse chronological order, each line starting with a verb. It is not a template issued by any university; it is a style familiar to recruiters at corporations, audit firms, banks and scholarship committees. Việc Hot has 10 CV templates in this style. The sections below cover its features, how to write each part, when to use it and when to choose a different style.

Features of a Harvard-style CV

One column read from top to bottom; no tables, no coloured boxes, no skill bars.
Serif type such as Times New Roman, Garamond or Georgia; size 10.5 to 12.
Black and white, with emphasis from bold, small caps and thin horizontal rules.
Organisation and location aligned left, dates aligned right on the same line.
Experience and education in reverse chronological order: most recent first.
No photo, no date of birth, no marital status.

This style reads fast and stays clear when printed. Because it is one column with no tables, screening systems also read it in the right order; see the ATS-friendly CV templates if you are applying through a recruitment portal.

Section order: when education comes first

Fresh graduates and scholarship applicants put Education directly under their name, because it is their strongest part. People with two or more years of work put Experience first and shorten education to one or two lines.

Writer	Section order
Students, recent graduates	Section orderEducation, Experience (internships), Activities and leadership, Skills and interests
Working professionals	Section orderExperience, Education, Skills, Certifications
Study abroad, scholarship applications	Section orderEducation, Research, Awards, Activities, Skills

How to write each part in the Harvard style

The education section gives the university, location, degree and major, month and year of graduation, GPA if it is strong, awards and relevant courses. The experience section gives the organisation, location, job title and dates, then two to four bullet points starting with a verb, with figures where possible.

One Harvard-style experience block (illustrative figures)

ABC AUDITING COMPANY, Ho Chi Minh City — 06/2025 - 08/2025

Audit Intern

Reconciled receivables for 2 retail clients, identified 14 discrepancies and prepared working papers.

Compiled the inventory summary for a manufacturing client's year-end stock count covering about 900 SKUs.

When to use a Harvard-style CV and when not to

Use it for	Choose another style for
Corporations, multinationals, management trainee programmes	Choose another style forDesign, advertising, events: recruiters want to see your taste
Audit firms, consultancies, banks	Choose another style forRetail, service, hospitality: a short CV with a photo is more familiar
Study abroad, scholarships, research assistant roles	Choose another style forJapanese and Korean companies used to photos and personal details
Recruitment portals with screening software	Choose another style forRoles that need to see your work: attach a portfolio

Creative fields should look at the creative CV templates; office staff at small and medium Vietnamese businesses can use a simple CV template with a photo.

Common mistakes in Harvard-style CVs

Keeping the Harvard layout but filling it with a list of duties, with no verbs and no results.
Dates sometimes aligned right and sometimes in the middle of the line, which looks off as soon as it is printed.
Squeezing into size 9 type to fit one page; cut content instead of shrinking the text.
Adding a portrait, which removes exactly what makes this style clean and serious.
Writing in Vietnamese but leaving section names in English, or the other way round.

Choosing a Harvard-style CV template on Việc Hot

This group has 10 templates, all one column, black and white or a single very muted colour, with serif type. Each template has 10 layouts, 36 backgrounds and 69 fonts; to stay true to the Harvard style, choose a one-column layout, remove the background and pick a serif font. Fill it in from your Việc Hot profile, then download a PDF or click "Download Word": since this style is one column with no background, the Word file looks almost identical to the PDF and is easy to keep editing. CVs come in 17 languages and a bilingual mode for study abroad applications or foreign companies, and you can share a link instead of attaching a file.

Frequently asked questions

No. The name refers to a layout that follows the CV-writing guidance common at American universities: one column, black and white, reverse chronological order. Việc Hot does not use the name or emblem of any university.

Yes. The layout does not depend on language; write in Vietnamese for local employers and in English for foreign companies or study abroad applications.

One page for students and people with under five years of experience. Academic CVs with a publication list can be longer.

Harvard-style CV templates