Before you get down to writing a great CV, you must decide what sections it should have and in what order. Well, this is exactly what you’re about to find out.
All good CVs share certain commonalities.
For example, they have the right CV sections. In the right order. With the right contents. And you really need to get all these things right, not to get… left behind.
Don’t worry—
In this guide, we’ll show you:
Save hours of work and get a CV like this. Pick a template, fill it in. Quick and easy. Choose from 21 CV templates and download your CV now.
What users say about ResumeLab:
I had an interview yesterday and the first thing they said on the phone was: “Wow! I love your CV.”
Patrick
I love the variety of templates. Good job guys, keep up the good work!
Dylan
My previous CV was really weak and I used to spend hours adjusting it in Word. Now, I can introduce any changes within minutes. Absolutely wonderful!
George
Need more help with writing your CV? Try these guides:
Or head straight to our repository of CV examples for 100+ professions.
A single glance at a CV should be enough for the recruiter to know whether they’re dealing with an entry-level candidate or a seasoned pro. How to do this? Start with including the right sections on your CV.
Why these?
First off, if your contact information isn’t there, you can just as well submit a blank page—it will amount to just as much. So make it easy for the recruiter to reach out to you and include your current contact details, such as the phone number and email address.
Secondly, did you know that recruiters spend only about 7 seconds scanning your CV? That’s why a good rundown of the entire document is not just welcome, but absolutely necessary. And this is exactly what a CV objective (or summary) is here for.
The work experience section doesn’t really need any explanation, does it? If you don’t include it in your CV, the document will have no right to be called a CV in the first place. Simple as that.
The same applies to the education section. It’s a fixture on every professional CV and should be taken care of with all the attention it deserves.
As to your skills, if you miss them on your CV it’s very likely the hiring manager will miss them too. And that’s not exactly what you’d like them to miss. At least, not until you decide to change your job.
Moving on to the optional CV sections—
Even if there are no limitations as to what you can put on your CV, the rule of thumb is to only display the relevant stuff. Here’s a list of sections of a CV you may want to consider including:
All these could be standalone sections on your CV, or you may want to include them as subsections. For example, relevant coursework could be part of the education section on a CV or you could list your accomplishments or projects as part of the experience section.
Expert Hint: Studies suggest that recruiters scan CVs in search of relevant information. Make sure to use the right section titles to help them quickly notice the things they’re looking for.
How to decide what sections to put on your CV and how much prominence give them?
Easy.
Always see to it that your CV is tailored to the job offer you’re pursuing. Does the employer put a lot of emphasis on your educational background? If so, it might be a good idea to add information about your relevant coursework, certifications, or publications in dedicated CV sections to make them visible.
If you’re not sure how to put your CV together, have a look at our dedicated guide on what to put on a CV.
These are the three most common scenarios—
For maximum impact, your CV sections should be arranged differently in each of these situations.
Let’s consider all of them.
More often than not, a CV with no experience will have its sections in the following order:
As you can see, in a no-experience CV the education section comes before the experience section. And this is a deliberate choice. Why? Well, if you have no experience under the belt you need to show what you do have. In this case, chances are that you can say quite a lot about what you’ve learned.
Remember:
Always make the most of your strengths and put them up top on your CV. Our dedicated guide on making an entry-level CV will show you how in a few simple steps.
Moving on—
As an experienced candidate, you’ll want to order the sections on your CV differently:
If you look closely at the sections on a CV for experienced candidates you’ll immediately notice two major differences. It has a professional summary rather than objective, and experience comes before education.
Why?
First off, let’s briefly consider the difference between the CV summary and objective sections. In essence, a CV objective focuses on your skills and is more fitting for inexperienced candidates. A CV summary, on the other hand, offers a brief rundown of your professional career’s highlights. As such, it’s a better choice for more experienced candidates.
Second, your experience is your strength and it should be as high up on your CV as possible—this rule never changes and is true for all CV formats. Always show off your strong points as high up on a CV as possible.
Finally, when you think about what extra sections to add to your CV—let relevance be your guide. So, if adding information on, say, your publications will look good on your CV but your publications are irrelevant to the job, don’t include this CV section.
The ResumeLab builder is more than looks. Get specific content to boost your chances of getting the job. Add job descriptions, bullet points, and skills. Easy. Improve your CV in our CV builder now.
Nail it all with a splash of colour, choose a clean font, highlight your skills in just a few clicks. You’re the perfect candidate and we’ll prove it. Use the ResumeLab builder now.
Now—
As a career changer, you might have mixed feelings about deciding on the right CV sections order. What we recommend is this:
The thing with changing a career is that you may have had quite a lot of experience… but most of it could be irrelevant to the position you’re pursuing.
That’s why you should opt for the professional objective (rather than summary) and follow it up with your relevant experience. This way you’ll show the recruiter your motivation and back it up with examples. Also, you may consider including an additional experience section where you can put things indirectly related to the job you want to get.
And just like in the previous cases, let relevance guide your choice as to what additional CV sections to include.
Here’s a brief rundown of the most important things to keep in mind when writing different CV sections.
If you’re looking for more detailed advice and examples, please visit our dedicated guides linked to in the first section of this article.
Remember to:
Before you link out to your social media profiles (e.g. LinkedIn) make sure they’re up to date and don’t include any information you don’t want the recruiter to learn about. Also, make sure your email address looks professional. Use your real name rather than your high school pseudonym.
Adding your postal address is rarely necessary these days. Only do it if the job offer says it’s necessary or if the employer is looking for people residing in a particular area.
A CV profile is an umbrella term for the CV summary and objective. Regardless of which one you decide to put on your CV, remember:
Also, even though this is the first section of a CV—write it last. Why? It’s a brief rundown of the entire document. If you don’t have the full version in front of your eyes, you won’t know what to pick out.
Most of the time, this is the central section on any CV. So—
Also, remember to put your most recent experience up top and move back in time from there. This is how a reverse-chronological CV format works. What does it mean to present your experience as achievements, rather than responsibilities? Say, you work for a sales department. This is what your achievement can look like:
This is a responsibility of yours:
See the difference?
Just like in the case of your professional experience, the contents of the education CV section should be relevant to the job offer and adequate to your experience.
In other words, if the employer is looking for someone with a specific educational background, make sure you put everything that’s necessary there. Also, if you graduated 10 years ago, you don’t have to provide details regarding your extracurricular activities—it’s your experience that matters most.
In the vast majority of cases, though, that’s what you’d normally put in the education section:
The skills section on a CV must be something more than just a list. Each of the items you decide to include should not only be relevant to the job—your experience and/or education CV sections should reflect it too.
Let’s say you put interpersonal skills among your skills. Now, it would be good if one of the achievements showed that you do display them. Something along the lines of established long-term relations with 3 new vendors would do the job.
Plus, make sure to present a healthy mix of your hard skills and soft skills—both of them are important.
Let’s put it this way—
Make sure the additional sections you decide to present on your CV actually add to your value, not dilute it.
So if the employer is looking for someone who speaks fluent German, do add a section on your knowledge of foreign languages by all means. Just make sure you put German there and describe your proficiency level. If you’re planning to only list your basic knowledge of Spanish, it will get you nowhere. See the point?
The same is true about any other additional section on a CV. Make sure it’s relevant and boosts your value in the eyes of the hiring manager.
Double your impact with a matching CV and cover letter combo. Use our cover letter builder and make your application documents pop out.
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.
Standard CVs include five basic CV sections:
You can also include other (optional) CV sections, such as:
…and many others. The rule of thumb is to only include sections that are relevant to the job you’re pursuing.
The order of CV sections is not set in stone and depending on your professional background you may want to put either the experience or education section first.
But there’s more to effective CVs than putting different sections in the right order—you must fill them in with impactful content.
Do you have any questions? Would you like to share your observations on CV sections and their order? We’d love to hear from you! Give us a shout out in the comments below.
At ResumeLab, excellence lies at the heart of our values, underpinning our promise to provide outstanding career resources. Our team of career experts meticulously assesses each article in line with our editorial guidelines, guaranteeing our content's high quality and dependability. We consistently engage in original research, illuminating the nuances of the job market and earning acclaim from various influential news outlets. Our commitment to delivering professional career advice draws millions of readers to our blog annually.
Maciej is a career expert with experience in the education management field. He delivers professional advice concerning every step of the job hunt, starting with finding internships to landing executive positions. His mission is to help readers spot the right job opportunity and write a CV that gets them exactly where they want to be.
A good CV is not only about the content but also the presentation. Discover how to format your CV correctly and effectively highlight your qualifications and work history.
Mariusz Wawrzyniak
Career Expert
A functional CV: a blessing and a curse. A skills-based CV, as it’s often referred to, can do more damage than good unless you know exactly when to use it, and what for.
Maciej Duszynski
Certified Professional Resume Writer, Career Expert
To get a stab at your dream job, you need to give the hiring manager exactly what she wants. Start with her favourite CV format: a chronological layout. Elegant, classy, and, most importantly, extremely efficient.
Michael Tomaszewski
Certified Professional Resume Writer, Career Expert