How to Write A CV When Your Career Has Gone In Different Direction

If you career has gone through different industries, job functions or professional levels this can make your CV difficult to structure. You may have gone through different professions and ended up at one. The problem is not that you have moved from one field to another it is that it may make your CV hard to understand. A good CV should help your employer to understand your value and different experiences instead of making them try to interpret your employment history by themselves.

1. Stop trying to make your career look more linear than it is:

One thing that you should not try to do is to hid the changes in your career, try to make unrelated jobs seem related. The employer can see your jobs and dares so if you manipulate some of your information it can make the CV hard to understand. Instead of doing that ,acknowledging that your career has not been very direct and each role that you took on added to you professional development. Don’t try to prove that your career went exactly as planned, it is to tell your employer that the skills achievement and knowledge you have gained have contributed to you and you will use these skills to help the organization.

2. Decide what direction your CV is pointing towards:

It is easier to explain your career when your CV has a good direction. Before writing your CV you should know the type of job you are applying for. This tells you which part of your CV you should pay more attention to. Just try to  target the job that gave you more skills achievement and experience that you  can use in the role you are applying for. The old jobs do not go, their worth just reduces. This is very important when your latest job is not related to the one you are applying for.

3. Use your professional summary to create context:

Your professional summary is one of the most useful parts of your CV, this is the best opportunity for you to explain your diverse career history. Don’t just list out your previous jobs use your professional summary to tell your employer how the numerous jobs have shaped your professional identity. Your professional summary should tell your employer the type of professional you are now, the role you are seeking, your transferable skills and the type of experience you can bring. It helps your employer to understand the rest of your CV. Without these your employer nay not understand the different job titles and will not know how your experience contributes to your professional identify.

4. Focus on transferable skills:

when you have worked across many fields your transferable skills becomes important. These skills remain useful when your industries and job titles have changed a lot, just include the skills that can be transferred from any of your previous jobs. Do not create a very long list of your transferable skills just make them clear in your employment history. Let your experience be able to show what you can do. There will be a better connection between different jobs when the same useful skills persist throughout your career.

5. Do not give every job equal space:

An unstable career journey doesn’t mean every job needs the same amount of information. Your CV should target the jobs that are relevant to the one you are applying for. If your most previous position is relevant to the one you are applying for, then there should be a lot of statements focusing on your skills, experience and achievements gained from your previous job while any other unrelated jobs just needs a small description. Your employer should be able to know your most important experience without reading every job description with equal amount of detail.

6. Explain your career changes through the skills they added:

Changing industries is not a weakness. Working in different industries can give you exposure to different type of industries, work places and skills. What is important is how each job contributed to your professional growth. Your CV can demonstrate movements when your main career has not moved in a straight direction. Try to explain the career changes and the skills they added. This makes your career progression skills-based rather than title-based.

7. Be careful with a functional CV:

A functional CV emphasizes on skills and not really the employment history so this can appear attractive to someone that has changed careers a lot. But remember that hiding the history completely can make your employers confused, they may start to talk about  what you were doing around that time. The better approach is a hybrid or combination CV. Focus on your useful capabilities in the beginning then give them a clear employment history underneath. This helps you to create a skill targeted CV without making your career history complicated.

8. Let your current role define your professional identity :

Do not describe yourself according to your first career or your latest one. Your CV should explain the direction you are going towards now. And even if your previous careers are unrelated fields it should not make your professional identity divided between those fields. Instead of doing this look for the most relevant professional capability that aligns with the next move you want to make. This makes different parts of your career easy to understand.

The main idea

If your career has gone in a lot of different direction then this does not mean you need to look unfocused. What matters is how you present these experiences and connect them with the role your want. Focus on your valuable skills, achievements and experiences and remember to give a lot of attention to your most relevant career goal. Your CV doesn’t tell your employer about your perfect career history. It shows your employer how you can use what you have gained from you different jobs and how