While there are many ways of writing a CV, doing it chronologically is surely one of the most popular ones, especially among young graduates. This CV format ensures greater clarity and highlights better the career path of the candidate. It is simple and effective! However, you must know in which cases to use this format for your curriculum vitae.
What Is a Chronological CV?
First of all, a chronological CV is a CV that describes your experience chronologically. In other words, you begin with your school and academic career before listing your professional experiences. This way, recruiters have directly an idea of your education background. Then come the internships and professional experiences (jobs, student or seasonal jobs, etc.) that you have carried out after your studies. Writing your CV chronologically is therefore the easiest and most natural way to write your resume. By the way, that is why many candidates opt for this cv format.
How to Write a Chronological CV?
In a chronological resume, the information within the Education and Work Experience sections are sorted by date. However, it does not mean that they are classified chronologically from the oldest to the most recent ones. On the contrary, you must do it the other way around, starting with your most recent experiences and then going back in time. This way, recruiters will see what you have been up to recently first. In this light, this format could be called reverse chronological CV. Here are the sections to be added to the document with the order to be followed:
- Contact information: mail, phone number
- Personal statement or personal profile
- Education
- Work experience
- Skills
You can add other sections to better showcase your profile: language skills, extra-professional activities, hobbies, references or even professional goals. Just note that you should only write information which is related to the position desired.
What are the Benefits of Writing a Chronological CV ?
There are several advantages of creating a curriculum chronologically. As already said above, it guaranties greater clarity to the reading of your CV. It highlights your education and the curriculum you have followed. Moreover, this CV format shows what professional experiences have resulted from your training. A chronological CV is particularly suited to young graduates who are just starting out in the workforce and do not yet have a lot of professional experiences.