Construction Manager CV: What to Put and Where

A construction manager CV has to prove three things on page one. You've run jobs of a certain size. Your cards and tickets are in date. And your sites were safe. Put a short profile at the top, then a line with your tickets, then your roles with the value, programme and team size of each job. Aim for two pages, with plain headings, so a person or a system can read it fast.

The structure that works

Use this order. It puts the things a hiring manager checks first at the top.

1. Name and contact details. Give your phone number, email and LinkedIn if you use it. The National Careers Service says to leave out your age, date of birth, marital status and nationality.
2. Profile. Three or four lines under your name saying who you are and what you run.
3. Cards and tickets. One short block, with expiry dates.
4. Experience. Your most recent job first, with a line on each project you ran.
5. Qualifications. NVQ, degree or HNC, with the awarding body and the year.
6. Other training. Short courses and CPD, grouped together.
7. References. "Available on request" is enough.

Keep the formatting boring. The National Careers Service suggests a clear font like Arial or Calibri, size 11 or bigger, with headings and bullet points.

What to lead with

Your profile should say your role, your years in it, the kind of work and the size of it. Then your top tickets. Here's an illustrative example:

"Site manager with eight years on residential and mixed-use schemes up to £12 million. Ran sites of up to 60 operatives across 14 subcontractors. CSCS Black Manager card, SMSTS and NVQ Level 6 in Construction Site Management."

Every number in it should be one you can talk about in an interview. If you can't back a figure up, leave it out.

Tailor the profile each time. Read the advert and use its words. If it asks for "housing", "refurbishment" or "live environment", and you've done it, say so in those words.

How to list your cards and tickets

Vague ticket lists are the easiest thing to fix. Name each ticket properly, add the level, and give the expiry date. Employers can check your card on CSCS Smart Check, which shows whether it's genuine, in date and matches your qualifications. So be exact.

Ticket	How to write it	Why
CSCS card	CSCS Manager (Black), expires 03/2029	Cards last five years and get checked online
SMSTS or SSSTS	SMSTS (Site Management Safety Training Scheme), expires 11/2027	CITB certificates last five years
NVQ	NVQ Level 6 Diploma in Construction Site Management, [awarding body], 2024	The level decides which card you can hold
NVQ in progress	NVQ Level 6, registered 02/2026, due 12/2026	Honest, and shows you're on the route
HS&E test	CITB Managers and Professionals test, passed 04/2025	Card applications need a pass from the last two years
First aid	First Aid at Work (3-day), certificate dated 05/2025	HSE says FAW certificates last three years
Short courses	Asbestos awareness, e-learning, 2025	Name the type, don't dress it up

Dates are examples. Card and course rules from CSCS, CITB and HSE, accurate as of September 2026.

If a hiring manager can't tell a ticket's level or date from your CV, assume they'll ask.

A few details trip people up.

• SMSTS doesn't get you a Black card on its own. The CSCS Manager card is earned through a Level 4 to 7 management or technical NVQ or SVQ, which is a separate qualification. List them as two separate lines.
• Be clear which first aid you hold. HSE describes two levels. Emergency First Aid at Work is a one-day course. First Aid at Work is three days and covers more. An online or awareness course is neither, so call it what it is.
• If a ticket has expired, either renew it or list it as expired. CITB says SMSTS stays in date only if you retake it or do the refresher before expiry.
• If you hold the Experienced Technical, Supervisor or Manager card, say so, and give your NVQ completion date. It's a three-year card with no renewal, so the finish date matters.

How to show project scope

Duties tell a reader what the job was. Scope tells them what you did with it. For each role, give two or three lines per project covering:

• Value and type, like "£4.2 million mixed-use, six storeys, timber frame".
• Your role and how long, like "Site manager, 18 months from groundworks to handover".
• Team size, like "Up to 45 operatives, 11 subcontractors".
• Outcome, like "Handed over on programme" or "No reportable incidents", only if it's true and you can explain it.

Keep it to what you ran. If you were the assistant site manager, say so. Overclaiming is easy to spot in an interview.

Getting past the applicant tracking system

If you apply through an online portal, software may read your CV before a person does. It may pull your details into a form or search for words from the advert. A few habits help.

• Use standard headings like Experience, Qualifications and Training.
• Keep key details in the main text. Don't put them in tables, text boxes, headers or footers, which some systems skip.
• Write ticket names the way the advert does. If it says SMSTS, use SMSTS, and add the full name once.
• Send the file type the advert asks for. If it doesn't say, a Word file or a PDF with selectable text are the usual choices.
• Skip photos, logos and graphics.

The tickets table above is for this article. On your CV, turn it into a simple list.

Before you send it

Check every expiry date. If your SMSTS or first aid runs out in the next few months, book the refresher and put the booking on the CV. Missing a ticket for the job you're after? Our guide to getting promoted in construction shows which qualification leads to each step.

No management NVQ yet? Our NVQ Level 6 Diploma in Construction Site Management lets you build the portfolio online from the site you're already running, and it qualifies you to apply for the Black Manager card. For first aid, see our first aid courses.

Frequently asked questions