Chronological CV template

Your CV is essentially a sales tool - the part of your job application that opens the door to an interview.

Choosing the right CV type depends on you and your job search. The most commonly used CV type is the chronological CV.

A chronological CV lists your work experience in reverse order, starting with your most recent job. This is a good option if you have worked in the same industry / type of roles for several years and perhaps have progressed to more senior roles during this time.

If you are changing careers, your work experience is more varied or you have gaps in your employment history, a functional CV might be more appropriate for you. If neither of these feel like the right fit for you, try a combination CV.

How to write a chronological CV

1. Contact information

Your name, address, phone number and email.

2. Objective or personal profile

Either be a statement about your employment goals - or an overview of you and what you bring to a job and employer.

It should be 3-4 sentences at the top of page one of your CV.

3. Employment history

In most cases, this is the largest section of your CV. 

Starting with the most recent job, list each job you’ve had including job title, employer, dates and a list of key responsibilities and achievements. You can use less detail for jobs that were a long time ago.

Each role in your employment history will look something like this:

Your Job Title, Your Employer, Feb 2018 - Oct 2020

4. Key skills/strengths

This section of your CV is a snapshot of your skills and could look something like this:

Retail Customer Service Officer, Woolworths, Feb 2018 - Oct 2020

Key skills and strengths

• Customer service
• Sales
• Cash handling
• Front desk duties
• Bookkeeping
• Phone and face-to-face communication

5. Education and qualifications

This is where you list details of your education, qualifications and any training courses you have completed.

You should include the name of the course/qualification, the organisation/institution were you studied and the date the course was completed.

If you are still studying, you can include an ‘expected completion date’ or write ‘current’ next to this course.

6. Additional information

This is where you list any extra information you’d like to share with the potential employer.

This could be interests, hobbies, volunteer or community work or anything else that is relevant to your job application that isn’t included elsewhere in your CV. What you include here is up to you.

7. References

In most cases, this section should simply read ‘References available on request’.

Unless the job you’re applying for requires referee details early in the recruitment process, generally your referees would only be contacted towards the end of the application and recruitment process.

To avoid having multiple people call your referees without your knowledge, don’t include all of their contact details in your CV.