A professionally written CV
The right CV / resume can make a dramatic difference to your future career prospects so it is well worth investing in having it professionally written for you. The Professional CV Services UK provides a unique level of in-depth consultancy, making sure that the resulting CV / Resume is of the highest possible standard.
Get an expert opinion
We provide a free of charge CV assessment, so that you can find out what changes we would suggest to your existing CV. This will give you the opportunity to evaluate the quality of our advice before you consider employing our Professional CV writing service.
Just as all people are different, so all CV / resumes will be different
It is obvious that the CV / resume for an actress will need to be presented in a very different way from that of a nurse. The level at which you are working will also make a difference, so a graduate CV will not be the same as that of a Senior Executive. This is why CV writing software simply cannot give a satisfactory result.
What format is best
There are no hard and fast rules about how you should format your CV. However, you should not lose sight of what you are aiming to do, which is to ‘sell’ your skills to a prospective employer. You should be sure to choose a format for writing your CV / resume which will best achieve those aims at the level you are ‘pitching’. It is usually wise to stick to a conventional style for your CV / resume as this will be what the employer is expecting.
Performance CV / resume
This is the most popular format for CVs because it clearly demonstrates your career development and experience. It will usually be organised under the following headings:
- Profile
Demonstrating your transferable skills or competencies
- Career History
Including details of your career to date usually in reverse chronological order, so that your most recent experience is shown first. Achievements can be included under each individual job. It is not always necessary to go back beyond about ten years. However if you only include ‘Recent’ or ‘Relevant’ Career History, then be sure to change the title of the section to reflect this.
- Education and Qualifications
For a graduate CV, or early on in your career, you may choose to include this before the Career History. As your career progresses it will usually be relegated to the second page. It is not necessary to include details of early schooling. However, you should include career-relevant training courses under this section.
- Other Information
Personal information including date of birth; visa or marital status; driving; languages; interests; or anything else which may be relevant can all be included under this section
- References
Names and addresses of referees should not be included. It is sufficient to put ‘available upon request’ under this heading. This has the advantage that you can monitor your application – if the prospective employer asks for references you know you are getting somewhere!
Chronological CV Services / resume
This is the same as the Performance CV except that the profile is omitted. Details of your Career should still be included in reverse chronological order.
Functional CV Services / resume
This type of CV is very useful if you are seeking a career change or if you have had gaps in your employment for whatever reason. It can also be very good for drawing attention to skills and achievements that you have not used in your most recent jobs.
This, as the name suggests, is a cross between two other types of CV. It usually leads with two or three functional headings. The career history will be more concise than in the performance or chronological CV but longer than in the Functional CV. The danger with this type of CV is that it can easily become too long if you include too much detail.
Targeted CV Services/ resume
As the name implies this type of CV demonstrates specific skills and achievements. It is best used when you are seeking a start within a new career. It is also particularly useful for people who have a number of different skill sets which they would like to use to target different job sectors. This type of CV is usually best presented as a one-page format so remember to keep it brief. It may be a good idea to have a number of job-specific versions of this type of CV.
Alternative CV
There is no hard and fast rule about the format which should be used for your CV. If you feel that you would like to present yourself in a less traditional way than any of the above, you have every right to do so. However, be warned, this type of approach is only really suitable for artistic people, or people in very unusual careers.
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