Writing a CV for a career change
Changing career is common: teachers move into training, engineers into project management, nurses into health technology, soldiers into security and logistics. The challenge is that a standard CV tells your past story, while the recruiter wants to see your future one. Your job is to build a bridge between the two.
Start with a clear target
Before writing anything, name the role you want: "junior data analyst", "HR business partner", "IT support technician". A CV that says "open to opportunities" makes the recruiter do the work of imagining where you fit, and most won't.
Lead with a bridging summary
Your summary should connect your past to your target in three parts: where you come from, what transfers, and what you have done to prepare.
Former hotel front-office manager moving into customer success for software companies. Eight years of handling demanding guests, training teams of 12 and improving review scores. Completed the Google Project Management certificate and a CRM administration course in 2025.
Show transferable skills with evidence
Transferable skills are the ones your new employer needs and your old job already proved. Common ones include:
- managing people, budgets or projects,
- solving problems under pressure,
- training, presenting and writing,
- working with data, systems or regulations,
- dealing with customers, patients or citizens.
Don't list them as words. Prove each one in your experience bullets, using the vocabulary of the new field:
- Teacher → trainer: "Designed and delivered 30+ hours of courses per week for groups of up to 35, adapting material to different levels."
- Military → operations: "Coordinated transport and supplies for a unit of 120 people across three locations."
Consider a combined format
A purely chronological CV puts your old job titles first. A combined (or hybrid) format adds a short "Key skills" or "Relevant experience" section near the top, with three or four skill headings and one or two achievements under each, followed by your work history. Keep the dates and employers visible: recruiters distrust CVs that hide them.
Make retraining visible
Courses, certifications, bootcamps and degrees for the new field belong high on the page, sometimes before your experience. Add projects that show you have applied what you learned: a dashboard, an app, a training programme, a volunteer role in the new field.
Trim what doesn't help
Older details that only matter to your previous industry can be shortened to one line per job. Keep enough to show a steady career, but give the space to what supports your new direction.
Mistakes to avoid
- Apologising. Don't write "although I have no experience in…". Lead with what you bring.
- Hiding your past. Your experience is an asset; just translate it.
- Overclaiming. A six-week course doesn't make you a senior specialist. Aim for a realistic first role in the new field.
- Sending the same CV everywhere. Career-change CVs need even more tailoring than others.
Use a cover letter
A career change is one of the few situations where a short cover letter is almost always worth sending. It lets you explain why you are changing and why now, which a CV can't do in a few lines.