If you’re changing your career or returning to work after a short break (under 12 months), or going for a ‘new role on a new product or service or in a new industry; this CV template is for you.
Career changers, return to workers and ‘new’ job opportunities
If you want to change careers, return to work in the same industry after a short break (under 12 months), or work in a new industry or on a specific project (i.e. a new product launch), then you need a skills-based CV. This CV type showcases your skills and knowledge which are transferable for your next job or career move. So unlike the qualifications-based CV, there is no requirement for ‘specific’ qualifications to fulfil a role. An example of this is new media, about 10 years ago no one had experience in new media and typically print or other traditional media candidates moved into this new industry transferring their traditional skills.
Skills CV Template Example
Your full name
Your home address
Your home phone number
Your mobile phone number
Your personal email address
Profile
I am a hard working team player and I enjoy exceeding targets. I look for ways to do things better because I am motivated by being successful and achieving.
Profile explained: your profile should be about 30 words long and describe what you are like to work with, focussing on how you can help an employer to prosper. Remember, you don’t need to have had a job to be able to describe yourself as a colleague.
Key skills and achievements
List up to five achievements – remember you want to show how you would add value to a company. Define and explain the skills like this:
Customer Service
Developed Service Level Agreements to enhance the customer experience for new and existing customers, which led to a 3% increase in renewals and a 2.5% increase in the value of units sold.
Systems used
List all of the systems that you have used that are relevant to the job that you are applying for, stating your competence level. For example:
SalesForce CRM superuser
MS Excel advanced
HTML basic
Career summary
Focus on the skills and experience that you have from previous employment that supports the list of your key skills above. List your employment history in reverse order, starting with your most recent job first. List your employment history like this:
Job title From-to dates Company name
If you do not want to name your current employer, describe the company instead e.g. Leading UK software house
Training and qualifications
List any recent courses that you have completed where the course or skills acquired are relevant to the job that you are applying for. State the grade or mark that you achieved where relevant.
Course/skill name From-to dates Educational institution Grade/mark
Awards and membership of professional bodies
List all relevant awards, membership of professional bodies and also membership of ‘news’ groups etc. For example:
Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM)
Interests (optional)
Keep this short, about one line. If you don’t have a work history, list awards and personal achievements here.
Download this CV example – free and fully editable