Which Professional CV Should You Use?

In the main, your CV will fall in to one of three CV types.  The correct CV style for you will usually depend on your level of career, your work experience, your career to date and the type of role you are currently looking for.  Making sure you have used the correct style of CV is essential!

Reverse Chronological CV

This is the most popular type of CV and yours is probably going to fall within this category,  if you have an established employment history, which is solid and without any significant gaps in employment.

A reverse chronological CV should be used if you don’t have an excessive history of changing employers or career direction frequently.

Functional CV or Skills-Based CV

If you plan to change to career to something completely different or are just starting out on your career path, this will probably be the best type of CV for you.  Because it is predominantly skills-led, it is ideal for masking frequent job changes, career discrepancies or gaps.

You can also use this type of CV to demonstrated key hands-on and academic skills when your formal work experience is limited.

Chrono-Functional CV

Sometimes, you might be better to use a mix of CV styles to ensure you can fully demonstrate all your key skills, experience and attributes to a potential employer.  In the main, this is the best option if you are looking to make a smooth transition in to a new industry or sector.

This combination approach can also work well if you have quite a diverse career history, which doesn’t really constitute a typical, rising-through-the-ranks career path.

Are you still not sure which CV to use?

If you are unsure of which CV type to use, don’t worry.  All of our professional CV writing consultants are practised at evaluating your full history and will use the most suitable format to maximise your opportunities for interview selection.