Barber CV Examples & Writing Guide

This sample is for a qualified barber with six years behind the chair, first as an apprentice in a neighbourhood shop, then at a busy walk-in barbershop, now renting a chair in a grooming lounge. The name, shops and college are made up. Keep the layout and swap in your own qualifications, services and numbers.

Most barbers are hired by the owner or shop manager, often the same day you walk in with a CV and your clippers. They want four answers fast.

• Are you trained, and to what level? You do not need a licence to cut hair in the UK, so owners look for an NVQ or VRQ Level 2 or 3 in Barbering, or a barbering apprenticeship. Put the level under your name or in the first line of your personal statement. An apprentice or college student is fine, but say which.
• Can you fill a chair? Clients per day and your rebooking rate tell them whether you will make money for the shop on commission, or cover your rent on a chair.
• What do you actually do well? Fades, tapers, line-ups, razor shaves, beards, children, Afro and textured hair, grey blending, hair designs. Name the services. "Haircuts" is not a skill.
• Will you show up and keep it clean? Saturdays, late evenings, the run-up to Christmas, and hygiene habits that would satisfy a council environmental health officer.

“Show me your qualifications, tell me how many heads you cut on a Saturday and what your rebook rate is, and then hand me your phone so I can see your work. The CV is there so I can check the dates and call your last shop.”

The most common barber CV lists duties with no numbers: "cut hair", "provided customer service", "kept station clean". Every barber does that. Rewrite each line so it says how many, how fast, how much or how well. Here are seven rewrites using real barbershop work.

List 10 to 14 skills and lead with services, then tools, then the business side. Owners skim this section to see if you can cover the shop's price list on a busy Saturday.

Services (name the ones you do well and fast):

• Skin fades, low, mid and high fades, tapers and drop fades
• Line-ups and edge-ups with a trimmer and with a cut-throat razor
• Scissor-over-comb and clipper-over-comb for longer men's cuts
• Hot-towel cut-throat razor and shavette shaves, neck shaves
• Beard shaping, trimming and beard line-ups
• Afro, textured and curly hair, waves, twists and sponge work; hair designs and parts
• Children's cuts and first haircuts; older clients and mobility needs

Tools and shop systems:

• Clippers and trimmers you own and maintain: Wahl, Andis, BaBylissPRO, Oster; blade alignment and zero-gapping
• Scissors, thinning scissors, cut-throat razors and shavettes with disposable blades
• Disinfection: Barbicide or another hospital-grade disinfectant, UV cabinets, single-use blades, COSHH rules for the chemicals you use
• Booking and payment apps: Booksy, Fresha, Treatwell, Square Appointments; name the ones you have used

Business and people skills (these decide whether you fill a chair):

• Consultation: hearing what the client wants in the first minute and confirming the guard numbers before you start
• Rebooking at the chair and retail recommendations without pressure
• Time management: staying on a 20–30 minute cut when the waiting area is full
• Polish, Urdu, Arabic or another second language if your clientele needs it

A personal statement says what you have done; a career objective says what you want next. Use an objective if you have just finished college or an apprenticeship, or are switching shops for a specific reason (moving to chair rental, moving to a higher-end shop). Use a personal statement once you have a year or more behind the chair. Three to four lines either way, and put your qualification in the first sentence.

You do not need a licence to work as a barber in the UK, so owners judge you on your training and your work. The usual routes are an NVQ or VRQ Level 2 Diploma in Barbering (Level 3 for advanced work) from awarding bodies such as VTCT or City & Guilds, or a barbering apprenticeship built on the national industry standards first set by HABIA. Registration with the Hair Council is voluntary, but a few owners like to see it. Copy the exact qualification title and level from your certificate onto your CV.

Other lines worth adding, in order of how much they help:

• Barbicide Certification: a free online sanitation course from the disinfectant maker. Many owners recognise it as proof you take hygiene seriously.
• Emergency First Aid at Work or infection control training. You use razors; a shop owner likes to see you know what to do with a nick.
• Short courses and refresher training, such as advanced fading, Afro hair or razor work at a training academy. List the year you last completed them.
• Brand education: Wahl, Andis or BaBylissPRO clipper classes, fade or razor workshops, barber battle placings. Give the name, the host and the year.
• A teaching or assessing qualification if you hold one, such as the Level 3 Award in Education and Training, even if you are applying for a chair; it signals you can train others.

Shop owners take on new barbers all the time; turnover is high and a good apprentice becomes a full chair within a year. What they worry about is speed, consistency and whether you will still be there in six months. Your CV should answer those three.

1. 1Put your training status in the header: "Barber, Level 2 NVQ Diploma in Barbering (completed June 2026)" or "Barbering apprentice, Level 2, year 2 of 2."
2. 2Write a three-line career objective with your training, the services you are confident in and the ones you are still building. Owners trust a new barber who says "still building speed on razor shaves" more than one who claims everything.
3. 3Turn your college salon or training academy floor into a job. List it as an employer-style entry: clients per day, the services you did most, any client who came back to you.
4. 4Add every other job with numbers, especially retail or hospitality. Owners want to know you can talk to strangers for eight hours.
5. 5List the tools you own. A new barber who shows up with a full clipper set, scissors and a razor is cheaper to start than one who does not.
6. 6Link your Instagram or a simple photo page, even with 20 posts. Ten clean fades on real heads beat any sentence about your skills.
7. 7Keep it to one page and bring printed copies. Many shops still hire people who walk in.

• One page. Owners read it standing at the front desk.
• Order: header with your qualification, personal statement or career objective, skills (services first), experience, qualifications and training, education. If you are new, move qualifications and education above experience.
• A plain single-column layout like the cvplex ats-classic template prints cleanly in black and white and reads on a phone. Save one version as a PDF and, if a chain's application asks for it, one in Word format (.docx).
• Put a plain link to your work: Instagram, or a Booksy or Fresha profile with reviews. This replaces the portfolio a stylist would bring.
• No photo of yourself, no date of birth and no marital status on a UK CV; your work photos live on the link.
• State your schedule plainly: "Available Tuesday to Saturday, evenings and the weeks before Christmas." Saturday availability is a deciding factor.
• Say whether you want commission, self-employed chair rental or an hourly wage plus tips if you have a preference.

Words to mirror from the advert when they are true for you: qualified barber, NVQ Level 2, NVQ Level 3, fades, tapers, line-ups, cut-throat razor, hot towel shave, beard trim, clipper work, scissor-over-comb, Afro and textured hair, walk-ins, appointments, rebooking, retail sales, Booksy, Fresha, hygiene, client retention, Saturday availability, commission, chair rental.