Christmas work is harder to get this year. Indeed data reported by Retail Times (15 October 2026) shows UK seasonal job postings 43% below their 2018 level, while searches for Christmas work are among the strongest for early October since at least 2018. Fewer jobs and lots of applicants means your CV has to do its job fast.
Quick answer: a CV for Christmas job applications should be one page: name, phone, email and town; a clear availability line (dates, hours, weekends and late shifts); a two-line profile; school, college or university; any work, volunteering or responsibility; and skills such as customer service, cash handling and teamwork. A full Christmas job CV example is below.
CV for Christmas job applications: what to include
- Availability, near the top. This is the most important line. Managers are filling rotas, so say exactly when you can work: "Available 23 November to 4 January, weekdays after 4pm and all day at weekends, including late shifts and Boxing Day."
- Location and travel. Your town or area, and how you get there: "10 minutes by bus from the city centre" or "full UK driving licence".
- Customer service. Any time you helped people: school open days, a charity shop, a sports club tuck shop.
- Reliability. Attendance, a Saturday commitment you kept for a year, a Duke of Edinburgh award. Temps who turn up are worth gold in December.
- School, college or university. Subjects and predicted or achieved grades are enough. No long tables.
- Skills. Cash and card payments, stock, teamwork, working under pressure, languages.
Leave out your photo, date of birth and marital status. In the UK these are not expected and some employers prefer not to see them.
Christmas job CV example: no paid experience
Emily is a sixth-form student in Leeds who has never had a paid job. Here is her CV, ready to copy and change:
Emily Carter
Leeds (Headingley) · 07700 900123 · emily.carter@email.com
Availability
23 November 2026 to 3 January 2027 · Weekdays from 4pm · Saturdays and Sundays all day · Full days 19 December to 3 January, including late shifts and Boxing Day
Profile
Friendly and reliable Year 13 student looking for Christmas retail or café work in Leeds. Confident talking to customers, good with numbers and happy to work weekends and late shifts. 15 minutes from the city centre by bus.
Education
Northfield Sixth Form, Leeds · A levels in Business, Maths and English Language (predicted B, B, A) · 2025–2027
GCSEs: 9 subjects at grades 9–5, including English 7 and Maths 6 · 2025
Experience
Volunteer, Hope Foundation charity shop, Headingley · Saturdays, March 2025–present
Served customers at the till, sorted and priced donations, kept the shop floor tidy.
Babysitter, private families · 2024–present
Regular evening care for three families; trusted with house keys and two young children.
Student Ambassador, Northfield Sixth Form · 2025–present
Greeted visitors and gave tours to parents at open evenings.
Skills
Customer service · Cash and card payments · Stock sorting and pricing · Teamwork · Staying calm when busy · Basic French
Interests
Netball (club team, Saturday mornings) · Baking
References available on request.
Notice what does the work: the availability line, the Saturday volunteering kept for over a year, and the babysitting that shows people trust her. For more ways to fill a first CV honestly, see our guide to a CV with no experience.
Retail, warehouse or café: change three lines
Keep one master CV and change the profile, the order of your skills and one experience line for each type of job. A clean one-page layout from the free CV templates works for all three.
Retail CV with no experience
Lead with customers and the till. Profile: "Friendly, confident with customers and comfortable on a till. Happy to work weekends, late nights and the January sales." Put cash handling and customer service first in skills.
Warehouse and mail sorting
Lead with reliability and pace. Profile: "Reliable and physically fit, happy with early starts, night shifts and standing for long periods. Used to following instructions and working to targets." Mention any sport, gym routine or Duke of Edinburgh expedition, and say if you can get to an out-of-town site.
Coffee shop and café
Lead with speed and friendliness. Profile: "Calm under pressure and quick to learn. Enjoy busy, chatty work and keeping things clean and tidy." Food hygiene training, baking or helping at school events all count.
What the top Christmas jobs pay
The same Indeed data lists the most-posted seasonal roles with their average hourly pay:
- Operations assistant: £17.84
- Mail sorter: £15.08
- Seasonal associate: £13.66
- Retail sales associate: £13.41
- Seasonal warehouse associate: £13.37
- Coffee shop assistant: £13.18
- Sales assistant: £13.13
Many big retailers and parcel firms take applications through online systems that scan for keywords. Paste the job ad into the free ATS resume checker to see whether your CV uses the same words, such as "customer service", "stock" or "flexible availability".
A short message for applying online or in person
Use this as an email, an online application note, or what you say when you hand your CV in (go mid-morning on a weekday, not on a busy Saturday, and ask for the manager):
Subject: Christmas sales assistant: Emily Carter
Hello, I would like to apply for Christmas work at your Briggate store. I am a sixth-form student in Leeds, I volunteer on the till at a charity shop every Saturday, and I am available weekday evenings and all weekend from 23 November, with full days from 19 December, including late shifts. My CV is attached. I can start training straight away.
Thank you,
Emily Carter, 07700 900123
Mistakes that lose Christmas jobs
- No availability. "Flexible" means nothing to a rota. Give dates and hours.
- Two or three pages. One page is plenty.
- A jokey email address. Use your name.
- Applying in mid-December. Most hiring is done by then. Start in October.
- The same CV for a café and a warehouse. Change the profile.
- Not answering the phone. Seasonal recruiters call fast and move on fast.
Turning a temp job into a permanent one
Temps who are reliable in December are the easiest people to keep in January. Be early for every shift, say yes to extra hours when you can, learn the till and stock systems properly, and tell your manager in early December that you would like to stay on. Afterwards, add the job to your CV with one result: "Worked 30 shifts over Christmas, trained two new temps on the till."
Applying in the US? Your seasonal resume
In the US the same document is called a resume, and holiday hiring peaks from October to December. (Our post on CV vs resume explains the difference.) The format barely changes:
- Keep it to one page with your city and state, phone and email. No photo or date of birth.
- Write availability the US way: "Available November 20 – January 3, evenings and weekends, including Black Friday."
- Use US spelling and terms: "cashier", "associate", "organized".
- Many big chains apply through online systems, so mirror the words in the job posting.
- Pay is listed in dollars per hour, so check the posting rather than assuming UK rates.
The resume maker has 8 modern one-page designs that suit a US seasonal application.
Make your Christmas CV on your phone
You don't need a laptop. On the ChatWrapper CV maker you type your details once, see a live preview, switch between 8 free designs without retyping and download a PDF to upload to an application or print for the shop counter. If you are a graduate looking past Christmas, our graduate scheme CV guide is the next step.
