Different writing styles of Curriculum Vitae writing

It can be difficult to search around in the enormous amount of ideas, opinions and guides that is available today. Here you can find descriptions on the different writing styles of CVs that is recommended. There is not one optimal or correct version – the right style depends upon a lot of different factors and to find out what will work best for you, will be something you discover when you have tried different versions.

The final result should hopefully be that you gain full control of your CV and get the job of your dreams.

There are three styles you could choose from:

Functional Curriculum Vitae

This CV style is based mostly on your skills; it concentrates on the acquired skills you have gathered in the past, but also how you have used these skills in your previous positions. This style would be the best style to use if you have gaps in your employment history and/or want the recruiter to focus on your expertise/skills rather than discovering your visible gaps in your employment history. Not that you should withhold any important information, but you don’t need to make it obvious for the recruiter to see these negative facts in your CV.

You could say for whatever reason – if your skills / expertise are more important for a recruiter / headhunter than your qualifications or employment history, then a functional CV is the obvious choice.

Performance Curriculum Vitae

The performance Curriculum Vitae style mostly focuses on past performance. This is often the case if you’re a major achiever or very often seen in “sales” or “economic” related positions. With this type of CV you will focus the attention of the recruiter on your performance/achievement during each chronological job listed in your employment history. For example if you have been on the same step on the ladder for some years and achieved a lot at your work, but now you want to take the next step in your career. You can – by using this type of Performance CV – , show that you are a high performer and have achieved goals; that you have done this for some years and now you’re ready to take the next step. If the recruiter / headhunter recognize this, he knows you’re committed and will do the little extra “something” to achieve your next goals.

Targeted Curriculum Vitae

A targeted type of Curriculum Vitae would focus on the requirement of the vacant position and exclude most other unnecessary information that could distract the recruiter / headhunter from judging you to be the perfect match for the vacant position. Sometimes this could be the case if you’re from a completely different sector or your employment history is too diversified to be a perfect match. The skills and expertise you have acquired during your professional working experience has helped your professional capacity, but it is not directly applicable to the vacant position unless you illustrate why. That’s why in this case the best idea would be to have a CV targeted for that specific job.

Which CV type is the best?

Standards, guides or rules are almost not best used as they are, and this is especially the case with regards to your CV or Resume. The best thing that you can do is to take these good ideas and put them together to become what will be called a “Combination Curriculum Vitae”. This style of a CV is the most used format. You basically use a little of all the above styles when you are trying to make that perfect CV. It is rare that a clean type would be used, as the job vacancies are fairly complex and your employment history would need to be targeted every time to answer the requirements of the recruiter / headhunter.