CV Design
Bookmark
Chronological CV:
This is the format most people are familiar with. It's a progressive account of your career that's easy to write, popular with employers and a good way of showcasing your experience from today, backwards. Advantages of a chronological CV include:
- Emphasises employment continuity.
- Emphasises your career growth.
- Easy to follow and read.
- Extremely common and is therefore typically preferred.
This CV design is ideal for an individual with continual employment with no gaps / irregularities.
Functional CV:
Not as popular with some recruiters as it can suggest to be hiding gaps in employment but is ideal if you are aiming on placing emphasis on your skills/strengths relevant to a specific job / industry. Reasons for using a functional CV include:
- If you are aiming to sell your skills to target specific competencies.
- If you do not have a consistent employment history.
- You are/have recently changed careers.
- You have employment experience but it is not related to the position you are interested in.
Please take time to weigh up the pros and cons of a functional CV - many recruiters prefer chronological CVs purely because they are more common and easy to follow. However, there are certain circumstances when a functional CV is useful (see above).
Related Pages:
- How do you write a CV?
- What makes a good CV?
- Explaining gaps in employment
- What should I leave out of my CV?
- Improve a CV with power verbs
- Why was my CV rejected?
- Common CV writing mistakes
- Writing a personal profile for a CV
- Writing a student / graduate CV
Subscribe to our careers advice newsletter for a free CV template
On a budget? Try our CV templates!