Career Advice

Employment History

by Paul MacKenzie-Cummins Sep 09, 2010

Employers spend more time looking at your Employment History than any other part of your CV. Consequently, this section needs to quickly convince a potential employer of your suitability to the advertised role and effectively market you for your current career objective.

But, there are different formats or ‘types’ of CVs that can be used to communicate your employment history and the one that you choose to use will be dependent upon what stage you are at in your career:

1. Chronological CV

If you are applying for a position that is similar to the one that you already have and can show a track record of gradually advancing your career, this CV is ideal.

Include the dates that you worked with each employer e.g. 2001 to 2004 in addition to company name, location, your full job title, responsibilities and achievements. And, list each position in reverse order starting with your current of most recent position.

The advantage of this type of CV is that it is easy for an employer to read, to get a snapshot of how your career has progressed and to understand why you are applying for another job.

2. Functional CV

This format is recommended for those who have been out of the workforce for a prolonged period of time or those seeking to change careers because it focuses on the experience and skills you have that are relevant to the job you are applying for instead of employment dates.

Replace the traditional “Company”, “Job Title” and “Date” headings with the “NAME” of the most important skill and experience that you have developed through paid employment, voluntary work of general life experience.

By doing it in this way, all of the information regarding your experience and skills looks recent and keeps an employer’s attention on your attributes.

3. Combination CV

Redundancy and job hopping have become more commonplace yet several employment dates will still signal red flags for potential employers and could harm your chance of securing the job that you want.

Counter this by ‘dividing and combining’ your employment history.

Split your Employment History into two sections: “Relevant Work History” and “Other Employment”.

Under “Relevant Work History”, list - in chronological order - the positions that you have held which have direct relevance to the job you are applying for. And, for each employer, provide a brief paragraph that details the scope of your opportunities.

Then, using bulleted points, list your main contributions and skills for that position with each accomplishment prefaced by a heading such as ‘Key Accomplishments’.

Include your employment dates to the right, not left. This keeps the readers attention focused on your work experience and not on the to-and-fro years in the left column of the page.

Finally, quantify your results. Wherever possible, include measurable results for your work. For example, “Significantly increased revenues and grew client base by 40 per cent”.

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