Functional CV Template

Corinne Mills is a highly regarded Career Coach, MD of Personal Career Management and has the best-selling CV book in the…

Article by:Corinne Mills

Join our LinkedIn community

Corinne Mills is a highly regarded Career Coach, MD of Personal Career Management and has the best-selling CV book in the UK ‘You’re Hired! How to write a brilliant CV’.

Taken from her CV book please find below a template and example for a functional CV.

For information on when you might use a functional CV please click here.

Template for a Functional CV

Name

Address

Tel No:

E-mail Address

Profile

Describe yourself using the same or a similar title to the job you are applying for and give details of your experience in the sector. Follow with a few sentences (approx 3-5) which summarises what you have to offer in relation to the job e.g. key skills and experience. Your profile is the most important part of your CV and should encourage a prospective employer to read further.

Key Skills & Experience/Key Achievements or Other Relevant Heading

From reading the advert or person specification for the job, show directly how you meet the selection criteria, choosing examples of how you demonstrated the competencies required.
Bullet point the information putting those of most relevance to the job you are applying for at the top.
Think of skills developed from different jobs and even from activities outside of work that show the competencies they are looking for.
You can also have sub-headings that match the selection criteria e.g. Financial Management, Training etc.
Include a mix of technical, professional and interpersonal skills.
Include memberships or affiliations as appropriate.
Pick out two or three particular achievements that show your capabilities for the role e.g. if they want organisational skills, choose an example that shows this off to good effect.
Quantify those achievements e.g. increased sales by x% over y months.

This section of the CV plan will probably take up most of the first page

Career Summary

Most recent job title Organisation year to year

Previous job title Organisation year to year

You can list your jobs in summary form or put a couple of lines about key responsibilities under each one. If you need to include a period where you had several jobs but do not wish to go into specifics you could group them together e.g.

“1995 – 1999 worked in a variety of office-based roles including ABC, DEF, GHI that helped me develop my administrative skills and my IT capabilities.”

Qualifications and Training

If qualification is highly relevant include it in Career Profile or on first page. Otherwise list relevant professional qualifications/memberships first e.g. CIPD or Chartered Surveyor
Higher academic qualifications should be listed before others unless lower qualifications are of more immediate relevance
School qualifications do not need to be included on the CV where you have higher qualifications.
Do not list all training courses but do include those that may have a direct benefit on new employers e.g. first aid, project management
Remember training does not have to take place in a classroom to have value e.g. distance learning, e-learning

Additional Information

This section of the CV plan can be used to include any information that will show you in a good light as a candidate.

This may include any other relevant information e.g. clean driving licence, languages, and any other piece of information which is either directly relevant or impressive e.g. running a marathon.

You might like to include any voluntary work that you do e.g. school governor or hobbies that will be of interest. If you are more “mature” in years, you can use this section to show that you are fit, energetic and up to date. If you are early in your career, then talk about outside activities which show the kind of skills, hard work and commitment that they are likely to be looking for.

The CV should be no more than 2 pages long unless you need to include lists of publications or research.

How do I find out more?

Corinne’s new edition of her CV book has recently been updated to include an extended chapter on social media and how to use it to your advantage to market yourself, manage your web-presence and your online reputation. You can purchase Corinne’s book via Amazon.

If you would like to find out more about our career coaching services, including CV advice, we offer a free, no-obligation career consultation where you will have an opportunity to discuss your career situation and find out more about how we can help.

To book or to find out more, call us on 01753 888995 or fill in our contact form and one of our team will be happy to contact you to discuss your requirements.

Resources on this site: