The only reason why employers are interested to see what you’ve achieved in the past, is to find out what you have to offer in the future. Your past record can justify your claims to having valuable assets and a progressive attitude. That’s why your CV has to project a clear, positive timeline. Here’s four tips for those who want their CV to make them look promising.

1. Tell them what you’re looking for

The first way to create a CV that is focussed on the future, is by mentioning your ambitions in the profile at the top of the first page.

For example:

  • I am an intelligent, innovative engineering graduate looking for a trainee job.
  • I am a proactive, highly creative, intelligent postgraduate looking for a position in which I can keep satisfying my curiosity and develop my excellent writing skills even further.

2. Mention your most recent position first

In order to create a clear time line, it’s helpful to order your employment history by date rather than by industry. Start with your most recent position, as it is more relevant for head hunters and employers to know where you are now than where you were 5 years ago.

3. Be more elaborate about recent experiences

It’s a waste of space to go into detail about positions you held over 10 years ago, but head hunters and employers will be very interested to see what your current and previous job entail exactly and what skills you have developed at these positions.

4. Don’t leave any gaps

It’s important to be accurate about your employment history, but you should always avoid leaving gaps. If you have had some time out or a large number of irrelevant jobs over a relatively short period of time, summarize that period together with a more relevant job that you held before or afterwards.