CV formats
There are different types of CV; eg Traditional, Skills based, Academic and Creative
Traditional
This is the most common, listing the activities within each section in reverse chronological order. You can create sections and section titles in different ways. For example, for a teaching job, rather than having a single ‘Work experience’ section you might separate ‘Teaching experience’ and ‘Additional employment’ to make relevant experience stand out.
Skills based
A skills based CV is useful if you have little work experience or are moving into a different career. It emphasises the required transferable skills by including a 'Skills' section on page one with 4-6 sub-sections, each describing examples of when you have demonstrated one of the required skills. Skills based CVs then have the same sections as a traditional CV but these are briefer, as your skills appear in the Skills section instead.
Academic
Use an academic CV for a research or teaching role within a university. The academic CV follows the same principles as any CV but has a different style and focuses on academic activities and achievements, without a page limit (although still as concise as possible).
In addition to your education, academic activities might include:
- Research interests
- Awards and funding
- Research experience and relevant training
- Teaching experience or academic administration experience
- Professional Memberships
- Publications
- Conference presentations and posters
Creative
Used for creative or design jobs, such as architecture, these include visual images alongside the text to showcase the designer’s skills. You do not necessarily have to follow the conventional A4 portrait layout and may even create folded CVs on high quality paper or card if sending a hard copy CV. Avoid creating an overly complicated format which is difficult to follow.
Key Tasks
1. See our example CVs for examples of a tailored CV and a skills-based CV.
2. For creating an academic CV, the Vitae website has great resources and advice, including example academic CVs.