Types of CV

Chronological CV

This is the most traditional CV format. It emphasises your experience and career development. The main part of the CV lists the jobs you have held in chronological order, usually with the most recent information listed first. It’s useful when you are staying in the same field of work. Your career history shows natural progression, growth and self development.

Functional CV

This is a CV which emphasises your main skills and strengths rather than who you worked for or what job title you had. It’s useful when you want to emphasise skills and strengths not necessarily acquired through paid employment and transferable skills when you want to change career.

First CV

For school leavers. This CV stresses subjects studied at school, other positive school experiences and allows you to get the most from any hobbies, interests and limited work experience.

You can create Chronological, Functional and First CVs using CV Builder.

There are other CV formats that you should be aware of:

The European CV

This is part of the Europass project. It aims to enable European citizens to present their qualifications more effectively, thus easing access to training or employment in Europe.

It presents skills and experience clearly and comparably, and aims to enable employers to make decisions about applicants based on equal information and so guarantee more equal treatment for jobseekers.

The Internet CV

As more and more companies have access to the internet, recruiters are increasingly asking for application letters and CVs to be sent by email. One of the main reasons for you to create an electronic CV is to enable you to respond. You will also be able to post it on a website which recruiters can access e.g. the Activate website.

More about Applying online

The Scanning CV

Some large employers use electronic processing systems to handle volumes of CVs, or a smaller employer may subscribe to a scanning service. Many recruiters who use the internet to look at hundreds of CVs will often use an electronic scanner to check for key words that they are interested in.

The organisation scans your paper CV into its database where it is stored as pure text. When a job comes up, the company can then do a keyword search for the experience, qualifications and skills that are required.

Practical points to consider

Use a common, non-decorative font (e.g. Arial, Helvetica) of between 10 - 14 points
Avoid columns, tabs, graphics, bold and lines
Use capital letters instead of bold, for headers
Do not use hollow bullet points, &, or % signs
Do not staple pages
Do not fold your CV
Use a laser printer

The Employment Agency CV

Because a recruitment agency will be looking to place you in a position where you will settle in quickly and be productive immediately, it is important to have your skills and abilities highlighted on your CV so that they can match you easily to the employer’s requirements.

Use a Functional CV format as the agency recruiter will be able see at a glance what you can do.