
Common CV Mistakes to Avoid (20+ Biggest Blunders)
When writing a CV, it’s easy to forget about some important details or include something you’re not supposed to. But that won’t happen to you ever again—if you read this study.
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A standard CV format is made of the following sections:
Those sections, though, can be listed in a different order depending on your work experience and career objective. There are three basic CV formats to choose from:
When to use which? See below.
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Expert Hint: When should you use a CV, and when is it better to use a curriculum vitae? It depends. CV and CV actually have a different meaning across languages. Read about the difference between a CV and a Resume.
Choosing the best CV format depends on your professional situation. Start with asking yourself these three questions:
Decide which format of CV best suits your needs:
Inexperienced | Experienced | Career changer | Employment Gaps | |
Reverse-chronological | ✔ | ✔ | ||
Functional | ✔ | ✔ | ||
Combination | ✔ | ✔ |
The reverse chronological CV format is the most popular and universal. It’s suitable for those who’d like to highlight their relevant work experience and education on a CV. Your latest job is the first one to be listed.
Yet, this format for CV exposes all career gaps. So, it might not be suitable for you if you’ve had some, and would rather the recruiter didn’t pay attention to them. It’s also not the best for career changers as its primary focus is on the relevant job experience.
The functional CV format is the go-to format of CV for those who’d like to bring their skills to the fore. Also, it detracts the recruiter’s attention from your work history, which is especially useful if you want to blur out gaps in employment.
That being said, the recruiters know that a candidate chooses the functional CV to hide something. So, use this curriculum vitae format only if you have a good reason not to choose any other. Plus, making the functional CV format is quite laborious and time-consuming as you need to come up with a perfect skill set for a particular job. And it’s the only CV format that the ATS may have a hard time parsing.
The combination CV format is ideal for career changers and experienced professionals. It brings together the best elements of the functional CV format (i.e. focus on transferable skills), and the reverse-chronological CV format (i.e. focus on experience and achievements).
On the downside, this curriculum vitae format isn’t suitable for everybody. To make the most of it, you have to be either a highly experienced specialist in your field or a career changer with a strong skill set. Plus, just like the least advisable functional CV format, this one takes a lot of time to prepare as you need to think of how to best link your skills to your professional experience.
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A CV format for a job may consist of the following sections:
A short introductory paragraph that says:
A standard CV format doesn’t have to be very complex. However, an employer or the nature of the job you’re applying for may require you to include more details (i.e. add extra CV sections) in your CV. Consider the following sections when preparing an academic CV format, CV format for freshers, or internship CV format:
Contact Details and Personal Information
Experience
Education
Technical Skills
Honours and Awards
Publications
Membership in Professional Associations
Hobbies and Interests
Our professional CV format example (check out all MS Word CV templates and CV templates for Google Docs) has been created with the reverse-chronological CV format in mind.
It works great as a CV format for the experienced and freshers alike. You can add, remove, rename, or rearrange its sections to your liking. Download our CV format and use it to prepare your:
Plus, turn it into a functional or combination CV format with a simple change of headings. You can also export your CV format to PDF using the standard MS Word save as function.
Expert Hint: Do I need a cover letter? Our recent survey shows that you do. About 83% of recruiters find cover letters important whan making hiring decisions.
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Want to try a different look? There’s 18 more. A single click will give your document a total makeover. Pick a cover letter template here.
When writing a CV, it’s easy to forget about some important details or include something you’re not supposed to. But that won’t happen to you ever again—if you read this study.
We say that keeping your CV up to date is important. But why do we say that? Here's the data.
Streamline your job search with our curated list of the best Google Docs CV templates. Spend less time sifting through options and more time landing your dream job.