CV and cover letter templates

Templates and examples to help you create your own CV's (resumes) and cover letters.

What's on this page?

• Cover letter template and example
• Skills-focused CV for changing career or gaps in your work history
• Work-focused CV for career progression
• Skills-focused CV for school leavers
• Specialist CV's
• Find out more

Create a CV online with CV Builder and it saves automatically

You can use our CV Builder to create your CV. It'll automatically save to your careers.govt.nz account.

Don't want to use CV Builder? Use our CV and cover letter templates by saving them to your computer

If you don't want to use CV Builder, you can use the templates on this page to create your CV and cover letter.

Save and name your templated CV and cover letter

• When you download the templates, remember to save them on your computer as a Word document and a PDF. Employers may need either format.
• Name your documents with your name, the application date, and the job you're applying for. For instance, "Mere Smith 1 Oct 2023 Water Engineer CV". This helps employers keep track of your documents.

Cover letter template and example

Read our examples and use our templates to create your cover letter. Remember to save it on your computer.

Cover letter examples:

• Cover letter example (Word - 16KB)
• Cover letter example (PDF - 0.1MB)

Cover letter templates:

• Cover letter template (Word - 20KB)
• Cover letter template (PDF - 0.1MB)

Skills-focused CV for changing career or gaps in your work history

Use a skills-focused CV template if you haven't had many jobs, have gaps between jobs or are changing career.

Skills-focused CV examples:

• Skills CV example (Word - 27KB)
• Skills CV example (PDF - 0.1MB)

Skills-focused CV templates:

• Skills CV template (Word - 25KB)
• Skills CV template (PDF - 0.4MB)

Read about describing skills in your CV:

Work-focused CV for career progression

Use a work-focused CV template if you're changing to a similar job or a higher-level role in the same area, or want to highlight your work experience and career progression.

Work-focused CV examples:

• Work CV example (Word - 27KB)
• Work CV example (PDF - 0.4MB)

Work-focused CV templates:

• Work CV template (Word - 26KB)
• Work VV template (PDF - 0.4MB)

Skills-focused CV for school leavers

Use a skills-focussed school leaver CV template if you're about to leave or have recently left school.

School-leaver CV examples:

• School leaver CV example (Word - 26KB)
• School leaver CV example (PDF - 0.3MB)

School-leaver CV templates:

• School Leaver CV template (Word - 25KB)
• School Leaver CV template (PDF - 0.4MB)

Specialist CV's

Some careers require a particular style of CV.

CV's for academic, creative, engineering, health, legal and teaching careers:

• University of Otago website - CV and Cover Letter Guide (PDF - 0.3MB)
• University of Oxford website - CVs for creative careers
• Victoria University website - CV/Resume Preparation for Teaching (PDF - 0.7MB)

Find out more

• How to write a CV
• How to describe skills in your CV
• How to write a cover letter
• Free job hunters' workbook