How should I present my CV?

Keeping in mind what the purpose of this document is. You’re not trying to create the perfect CV. You’re trying to make sure that a very busy person – who’s probably looking through hundreds of CVs – puts yours on the right pile. There are many approaches, but in terms of presentation they boil down to three main forms.

The first is the traditional structure: a list of your jobs, beginning with the current or most recent and working back to your very first.

Recently there has been a fashion for reversing this flow and turning the CV into more of a narrative, starting at the beginning and moving forward to where you are now, implying that your career has been a developing story that will soon reach its spectacular climax.

The third approach is less linear, beginning with a short but bold description of what you do, followed by a finely sculpted “mission statement” setting out your objectives, with the details of your career tucked in underneath.

It’s entirely up to you which style to choose. An overworked person wading through a pile of CVs is unlikely to be impressed because you’re using one rather than another. What they want is something that tells them clearly and simply what you’ve done and what you can do. The rest is irrelevant.

The same applies to presentation. Sharp, attractive design is always helpful, but resist the temptation to overly colour up your CV. Unless you’re going for a job as a graphic designer, employers won’t be impressed by blue bubbles and enigmatic logos. In fact, excessive decoration can be regarded as an attempt to make up for lack of substance, and actually damage your chances.

Make it neat, clear, simple and comprehensive, with no obvious gaps in your history, and your CV will speak for itself.