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Get That Job With The Right CV: In what order should I show information?

by Julie Gray

Every CV should start with your name, followed by up to date contact details.

Summaries (like Profile, Key Skills or Objective) should go near the top as well, because these help readers to get a feel quickly for who you are and what you offer.

After that, everything else should appear in order of relevance. So, school leavers and graduates should list Education before Work Experience, because their education is the most relevant indicator of their ability at this point. More experienced workers would normally put Employment History before Education, if they include Education at all.

Relevance may also be influenced by the CV format you choose. In the UK, the most common is a ‘chronological’ CV, in which sections containing dates are arranged in reverse chronological order. In this case your Employment History would start with your current/most recent job.

Chronological CVs are predictable. Readers are familiar with the format, can quickly find what they need to know and can compare you easily with other applicants. However, a downside is that key details can still get buried even when using summaries at the start – and employment gaps may stand out more.

Less common is the ‘functional’ CV, which highlights the skills and abilities you’ve shown, irrespective of date. In place of a full Employment History you would normally have a Key Competencies/Skills section, where you list your key skills or competencies and provide the best proof of each one from any of your roles. You can’t get away from dates completely: you’ll still need to include a short Employment History summary, showing whom you worked for and when.

Functional CVs strongly highlight your suitability for a job, even if your past roles have been many or varied. The format is often less familiar to readers though, and they may struggle to pick out key details or to compare you easily with others.

Whether you use a chronological or functional CV, or combine them into a so-called ‘hybrid’ CV, order it in terms of what’s most relevant to the job you are applying for.


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