Mayfair
A profile panel and core competencies on page one, so the reader sees your skills before your past job titles.
Use this design: MayfairFree career change CV template
Moving into a new field? Designs that put your skills and retraining before your old job titles, with a profile that explains the move.
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- UK format
The best designs for career change CVs
Picked for how career change CVs are read in the UK. Each one is free, and your CV works in every design, so you can switch at any time.
Hampstead
Shaded headings make a Relevant training or Projects section stand out.
Use this design: HampsteadShoreditch
Sections in outlined cards, so a new course or project gets as much space as a past job.
Use this design: ShoreditchWant more choice? See every design, or browse by style: Simple Modern Professional Creative Graduate and student One page IT and technical
Previews show made-up sample CVs. Yours will show your own details, in the colour and font you choose.
What to put on a career change CV
People change career for all sorts of reasons: moving from retail into an office, from the armed forces into civilian work, from teaching into training or from hospitality into tech. The challenge is that your job titles do not match the new role, so your CV has to make the connection for the reader.
That means a profile that explains the move, transferable skills near the top and anything you have done to retrain, with your work history still in date order underneath.
Whatever the job, the UK CV format applies: your name and contact details, a short profile, experience with the most recent first, then education and skills. No photo, age or date of birth.
A profile that explains the move
Who you are now, what you are moving into and why you will be good at it, in two or three lines. Positive and about the new role, not about leaving the old one.
Key skills for the new role
The transferable skills the advert asks for, each backed by an example from your past work.
Training and projects
Courses, qualifications, bootcamps, volunteering or freelance work in the new field, with dates or an expected finish date.
Experience, rewritten
Still in date order, but with the bullet points that matter for the new field first. Trim detail that only made sense in your old job.
A mixed format
A short skills summary at the top, then your work history with dates. A CV without dates can make employers wonder what is missing.
Skills and keywords for a career change CV
From our skills guides and CV examples for this job. Use the ones that are true for you, in the words of the job advert, so recruiters and applicant tracking systems find them.
- Communication
- Problem solving
- Stakeholder management
- Project management
- Team leadership
- Data analysis
- Customer service
- Time management
- Adaptability
- Negotiation
- Training and mentoring
- Attention to detail
See it filled in
Career change CVs: your questions
Should I use a skills-based CV for a career change?
Usually a mix works best: a short skills summary at the top, then your work history in date order. A CV with no dates can make employers wonder what is missing.
How do I explain a career change on my CV?
In your profile, in two or three lines: what you have done, what you are moving into and the skills or training that connect them. Keep it about the new role.
Should I mention a course I am still doing?
Yes. List it with the provider and your expected finish date, and mention any project you have completed as part of it.
Keep going
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Read next: How to write a CV when changing careers How to explain gaps in your CV Personal statement examples CV skills by role
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