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Skills-based CVs
If you are moving to a new employment area, a skills-based CV is particularly useful to show how your skills could transfer. It enables recruiters to see at a glance how your experience and skills match the needs of the job. It includes similar information to the more familiar Chronological CV, but the material is organised under a different sequence of headings.
The central element of this type of CV is a skills profile. The profile lays out the range of transferable skills that your research work has enabled you to develop, matching them to the requirements in the job specification. This may help dispel stereotypical thinking about your academic background.
Be aware, though, that more preparation is needed to put together a good skills-based CV. It can look unfocussed if you have not thoroughly researched the job and your evidence.
Before you begin, look first at the general advice on writing CVs and making applications.
To be effective, skills-based CVs need very careful design.
Skills-based CV structure
The structure might be around the following headings:
Personal details
Personal profile or Career aim - a brief, thoughtfully worded statement tailored to the specific job. Use it to show your career motivation and how you match the required skills. Make sure that the rest of the CV has evidence to back this up. Highlight your career aim and, if relevant, give your rationale and motivation to move into a new work domain. Take care to make the statement positive and professional. Do not include vague or general remarks or exaggerate your talents.
Skills profile - the major section in this type of CV, based upon the list of requirements in the job description. For help creating your own profile and identifying supporting evidence, look at how to evaluate your skills. Provide detailed evidence of how each skill has been developed and used successfully, for example:
Example of evidencing skill/competency
|
Skill/Competency |
Evidence |
|
Confident communicator |
Ability to write for a variety of audiences. Produced regular well-received reports for my research sponsors; wrote a newspaper article outlining my research findings for the general public; wrote a successful PhD thesis and published two journal articles for academic audiences. Received very positive end of term feedback from students on my teaching. Developed confidence in public speaking through giving papers and talks at conferences and meetings. |
|
Project management |
Manage my research and teaching workload by setting priorities, planning, and monitoring progress, ensuring I meet deadlines and budgets set by external sponsors. Responsible for organising two well-attended (and profitable!) social events at my local tennis club in the past year. |
|
Problem solving |
Take an analytical and systematic approach to research problems, looking for patterns and key issues. Look for logical solutions on the basis of past experience or novel ideas in the research literature, as well as seeking advice and opinion from colleagues. |
Education and qualifications - a short summary with most recent or relevant experience first.
Key achievements- if appropriate to your experience, you could highlight significant achievements, successes or responsibilities with a separate list.
Work history - a reverse chronological list of jobs and employers with a brief description of significant achievements. Have separate headings for ‘relevant work experience' and ‘other' work experience if appropriate. Include unpaid work if this adds weight to your case.
Interests - include relevant interests that evidence your skills.
References (include two, with permission).
If you are moving to a new career area, your research subject may be of less relevance than your skills, but see Presenting your research on marketing your research experience to different audiences.
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