Beauty Therapist CV Template & Writing Tips (+ Examples)

Beauty therapy is one of those things that many people assume they could do well. Looking from the outside in, it’s easy to overlook all the knowledge and skills that a beauty therapist needs. From electrotherapy and microdermabrasion to tinting, threading, and waxing. Make-up and massage and so much more.

So many devices, chemicals, and techniques to master. So much responsibility—your work directly affects clients’ self-esteem, not to mention health and safety. It’s not so surprising, then, that so many beauty therapists are so confident in their abilities, so sure that they’re the best. How can you compete with that?

There’s a better way than trying to out-confident your competition. You can use your beauty therapist CV to calmly show that you’ve got what it takes. This article is here to walk you through writing your beauty therapist CV in a way that will really speak to and jump out at salon managers.

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Looking for a different CV example? See: 

• Biomedical Science CV
• Dental Nurse CV
• Hairdresser CV
• Hospitality CV
• Makeup Artist CV
• Medical CV
• Nursing CV
• Part-Time Job CV
• Pharmacist CV
• Physiotherapy CV
• Receptionist CV

Couldn't find your job? See a full list of our CV examples.

Beauty Therapist CV Template

Now that’s a modern CV template! Let’s use it to write your own beauty therapist CV.

1. Start your beauty therapist CV with a winning personal statement

Yours is a job that has you meeting and introducing yourself to new people all the time. You know the value of making a good impression, of putting someone at ease and reassuring them that they’ve made a great choice in coming to you. You need your CV to do the same for the salon manager who reads it.

Your beauty therapist CV profile (also known as a personal statement) is where that first impression will get made. You need your personal statement to introduce you as a beauty therapist (how long you’ve been working and in what contexts) and to show the salon manager what you have to offer.

You can very simply and effectively show what you have to offer the salon by describing what you managed to bring to other salons (or clients) in the past. You do this through what we call achievements. In this context, an achievement is the description of your actions and the benefits they brought to your employer.

Each achievement is built around a strong verb, like ‘treated’, ‘booked’ or ‘performed’ and is characterised by being both concrete and quantified. This means avoiding wishy-washy statements and putting numbers to everything you can. So, ‘helped clients’ becomes ‘treated 6+ clients a day with a 95% booking a follow up’.

You can use something like the STAR method to help structure your achievements. You’re aiming, above all, to put numbers to the benefits that you brought to your employer through your actions. Estimating these is fine as long you’re realistic. Where that’s not possible, at least quantify the scale at which you acted.

The third and final thing you need your beauty therapist CV profile to do is show that your goals line up with the business goals of the salon to which you’re applying. This sounds more difficult than it is. All you need to do is answer the question of what it is that you hope to achieve for your potential new employer.

To recap, the intro paragraph of your CV should: introduce you, describe an achievement from your current or previous beauty therapist job, and state what it is that you hope to achieve for your employer in this new job. Aim to do all of this in 3–4 sentences and about 50–150 words.

Your job application, especially if you’re applying to a larger company, is likely to be processed by and Applicant Tracking System (ATS) before a human being even lays eyes on it. Boost your chances of getting through this process by mentioning the name of the salon or company and the job title in full.

Beauty therapist CV example personal statement

A strong CV summary will convince the recruiter you’re the perfect candidate. Save time and choose a ready-made personal statement written by career experts and adjust it to your needs in the LiveCareer CV builder.

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2. Do your work experience justice

Beauty therapy courses and the odd freelance gig here and there are one thing, but having experienced the daily grind and huge variety of treatments and clients that steady work brings you is something else entirely. Whether self-employed or looking for a new employer, do your hard-earned experience justice.

The first thing you need to do is choose the right CV format for you. Have you been working as a self-employed beauty therapist? A skills-based CV format might be for you, since it really emphasises skills over employment history. Maybe you’re writing a CV for a career change? Go with a hybrid/combination CV format.

It seems that the majority of beauty therapists work for a salon or other company, whether part-time or full. If this is you, then go with a chronological CV format. It’s a CV format salon managers are most used to seeing and what ATSs are set up to parse most readily.

In spite of what its name suggests, the chronological CV format will have you putting your work history in reverse-chronological order, so from most recent to least. Start by creating a subheading for each job description using this beauty therapist CV template:

[Job Title]

[Company Name, Location]

[Dates of Employment]

Under each job description, add up to six bullet points each of which is an achievement from your time at that salon. Just like the achievement you’ll be writing for your personal statement, each one of these should focus on the benefits you brought to your employer while being as specific as possible.

But what if you’re writing a beauty therapist CV with no experience? Think over any freelance, volunteer, internship, and placement work you’ve done. If you can’t draw on these for relevant achievements, then consider writing a CV with no experience or a student CV instead – it’ll be better suited to your experience level.

Beauty therapist job description

3. Get your education section right

As many different paths as there are to getting into beauty therapy, salon managers will need to have a clear view of your education. Keep your beauty therapist CV education section short, sweet, and to the point. Here’s how to write a degree on your CV:

[Degree Type] [Degree Name](Degree Class), [Years Attended]

[Institution Name], [Institution Location]

List your expected graduation date as the end date if you’re still studying. If you don’t have a post-secondary qualification or a minimum of a years’ experience, then use the following beauty therapist CV templates to detail your high school education:

A-levels: [Subject Name 1], [Subject Name 2], [Subject Name 3]

[School Name], [School Location], [Years Attended]

[number of completed GCSEs] GCSEs (including Mathematics and English)

[School Name], [School Location], [Years Attended]

If your work experience section was somewhat lacking, then you can add some bullet points here to highlight your academic achievements and areas of excellence. Only do this if you have something relevant and impressive to add, though. It’s important to avoid all kinds of padding and keep things concise.

Beauty therapist CV example education section

4. Use your beauty therapist CV to showcase your skills

Being a beauty therapist requires a diverse set of skills, from customer service skills, through working with machines and devices, to generally being good with your hands, whether that means a deep-tissue massage or intricate nail art. Put your skills on display the right way in your beauty therapist CV.

Given the nature of job hunting, you’ll be sending out quite a few applications before finding that beauty therapist job that’s right for you. Save yourself a lot of time and effort by first making a master list of your skills. You’ll then be able to simply copy and paste from this list in future applications.

So open a new document and type up a list of all your beauty therapist skills (hard and soft skills). Next comes the most important step: add a sentence onto each skill through which you describe exactly how you’ve demonstrated that skill in action, at work. If you can’t do this for a particular skill, then it drops off your list.

This will be your master list for future job applications. For your current application, go back to the job advert and see what skills are required there. Copy 5–10 skills from your master list and paste them into your beauty therapist CV. Be sure to at least cover the ones that are explicitly mentioned in the advert.

Beauty therapist CV skills

5. Make good use of additional sections

Beauty therapists work closely with their clients and often perform treatments that require a great deal of trust on the client’s part. There’s a lot to both the technical aspects of beauty therapy and building this kind of rapport that won’t always come across in your work history, skills or education.

Paint a fuller portrait of yourself in your beauty therapist CV by adding in extra sections. You could add section with your additional or non-academic qualifications, like ITEC or CIBTAC. You could add lists of awards you’ve won or workshops you’ve attended. Even interests and hobbies are fine if they’re relevant to the job.

Speaking languages other than English is a big plus in any line of work, whether you’re likely to have the opportunity to speak them or not. Studies have shown links between language learning and empathy and this is especially relevant in beauty therapy, where empathy plays such a huge part in your job.

Beauty therapist CV sample additional sections

6. Include a cover letter

You may have heard of salon managers who never even glance at the cover letter when they receive a job application. There might even be a fair few like that out there, but that doesn’t mean that not including a cover letter with your beauty therapist CV should ever be an option. Here’s why.

If you include a cover letter and nobody reads it, no big deal. If you don’t include a cover letter and the salon manager was expecting one, then your application drops straight into the reject pile. A job application is made of both a CV and a cover letter. Always include both unless explicitly asked not to.

Grab a good cover letter writing guide that will help you out with formatting your cover letter. Start your cover letter with a strong opening. Showcase your achievements in the main body and then end your cover letter with a confident—but not pushy—CTA. Be sure to address your cover letter properly.

7. Keep the following finishing touches in mind

Attention to detail is very obviously a quality that any salon manager would want to see in their beauty therapists. A beauty therapist CV that’s poorly laid out and riddled with spelling and grammar mistakes is a great way show employers that you don’t value aesthetic taste or take any pride in your work.

Proofread your work at least twice. Then check it with an app or web app. Then get someone you trust to look over it. You don’t have to be Shakespeare to do your job well, but spelling and grammar mistakes say more about your conscientiousness than they do about your English skills.

Leave your contact details near the top of your CV where they’ll be easy to find at a glance. Don’t include your date of birth on your CV, though (it’s an outdated practise). Pay attention to the length of your CV—keep to a limit of one A4 page per decade of experience, but don’t go over two pages even if you have more than 20 years’ experience as a beauty therapist.

Use subheadings and plenty of white space to clearly break your CV structure down into sections. Use short bullet points wherever possible to make your CV easier to navigate. Choose a professional-looking CV font like Noto, Garamond, Arial, Liberation or even Calibri and leave the size locked in at 11–12 points.

Best CV templates are the ones that are ATS-scannable. So if you’re going for Canva CV templates, make sure an ATS robot can read them.

One last piece of CV advice: if it’s been a week and you haven’t heard, then follow up with a quick phone call or email. It’s a simple gesture that sends all the right messages and could make a significant difference to your application.

You don’t have to be a CV writing expert. In the LiveCareer CV builder you’ll find ready-made content for every industry and position, which you can then add with a single click.

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Was this article helpful in getting your beauty therapist presentable and out into the world? Is there something I’ve covered here that you’d like more information on? Please leave any questions, comments or experiences you’d like to share in the comments section below.

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Our editorial team has reviewed this article for compliance with Livecareer’s editorial guidelines. It’s to ensure that our expert advice and recommendations are consistent across all our career guides and align with current CV and cover letter writing standards and trends. We’re trusted by over 10 million job seekers, supporting them on their way to finding their dream job. Each article is preceded by research and scrutiny to ensure our content responds to current market trends and demand.