Which is the Best CV Format?

It’s a popular misconception amongst many job hunters, that CVs are all the same, and that one single format is suitable for all job applications. This is completely wrong and results in many applicants failing to reach the interview stage because their CV is rejected simply because it has been written in the wrong format for the position being applied for.

The best CV format depends on the type of job you are applying for and your own experience. The objective of all CVs is to present your skills and experience to a prospective employer in order to secure you an interview.

There are a number of ways you can format your CV. The most popular one is the standard chronological format, where your qualifications and experience are presented in chronological order with your current or most recent employment presented first. It then works back through your career history, listing your experience and educational achievements along your career path.

Most employers prefer this CV format. Simply because they can skim it fast. If a recruiter is looking through a large pile of CVs this is an advantage. This is a good CV format to use if you have achieved a lot in your carer and have a large body of work to which you can refer. It’s not a format that is suitable for everyone however.

If you are just starting out in your career you will not have many achievements to your name so this format will not work for you. Also, if you are embarking on a career change and have so far gained little experience in your new field the chronological ordered CV would be a disadvantage for you.

The performance CV is a good way to overcome the problems of the chronological CV if you have not built up enough experience in your chosen career. Unlike the chronological CV the performance CV, like the name suggests, concentrates on your performance in past and current roles. In this CV format, you will be emphasising your achievements and will be focusing the recruiter towards these. Your aim is to present yourself as an achiever.

This is the perfect format to use if you have worked for the same company for a long time. You can highlight how your responsibilities within the company have changed over the years. How you undertook new challenges and how you performed within them. It’s also an excellent format if you have some gaps in your career.

If you have a diverse employment history the chronological CV is not the one you want, you could use the performance CV to highlight your achievements within the industries you have worked in, you could also use a targeted CV. The targeted CV. In this CV, you would focus on the requirements the position you are applying for demands. In this CV, you would exclude irrelevant information like jobs you have held that are unrelated to the position you are applying for and would only list information you believe is relevant to that position.

The most used CV format is a combination of all of them. The best CV format would contain a little of them all. The chronological CV on its own doesn’t show an employer what you can do, what you have achieved, at the same time an employer wants to know that you have the qualifications and experience for the position you are applying for.

Start with the chronological format and then list details about your last two jobs. Explain what you have achieved and what your duties were. It’s your latest employment that a prospective employer will check, so it’s this area where you need to elaborate. Unless asked, don’t go into too much detail about a position you held seven or eight years ago. Business changes and procedures change. A prospective employer is interested in what you can do now.

Think carefully about what format to present your CV in when applying for a position. The objective of your CV is simply to secure you an interview, in order to achieve this you need to present yourself in the best possible light; the format you choose to use will go a long way in doing this.

Which is the Best CV Format?