Which CV should you use?

Chronological CV?
Functional CV?
Targeted CV?

Most people are familiar with the Chronological style CV – which includes a mix of ‘Personal Information’, ‘Career Information’ and details relating to your ‘Education’ and any subsequent ‘Vocational Training’ you have undertaken.

You should use this style of CV if you expect your next position to be a logical career development step.

Another style is the Functional CV which is useful if you have experience in a range of functions or disciplines (e.g. quality, management of people, marketing, finance, project management) and want to highlight these to a prospective employer.
This CV will emphasise key areas of competence listing skills and achievements under each functional area or discipline.
This style of CV will be more appropriate in the following situations:
• You are considering a change in career and the Chronological style of CV would not sufficiently emphasise your areas of competence.
• Looking at your career to date you feel that another employer may not feel that you have made much progress or consider your development disappointing.
• You have been employed in various unrelated jobs or have changed jobs quite regularly.
• You have been away from the job market for some time, for example following a career break.

The ideal CV is the Targeted CV which means that your CV is ‘tailored’ for each job you apply for, this obviously means amending your CV to match each job vacancy you are applying for. This can seem like a lot of extra work but is worthwhile in the long run. Most employers have a list of skills, knowledge, experience and qualifications that they would like the ideal candidate to have. Being realistic they know they probably won’t interview someone who ticks all their boxes so you should match your CV to the job in question identifying the ‘essential’ and ‘desirable’ criteria from the advert/job specification.

If you would like any help in deciding which CV is best for you then do contact me on 07875 320793