CVs and covering letters
What is a targeted CV format?
A targeted CV is a skills-based CV format. This format can be useful if you’re looking for a career change. This is because it focuses on your transferable skills and experience, rather than job titles, companies, and how long ago you got the experience.
It’s called a targeted CV because you use it to aim for a specific type of job. You only include details that are relevant to the job you’re applying for. These could be listed in two separate sections: abilities and achievements.
What's the difference between abilities and achievements?
Abilities are natural or acquired skills or talents. You can provide specific details of the abilities and examples of when you’ve used them. For example, writing is a skill, but just listing ‘writing skills’ isn’t specific and doesn’t give an employer an indication of when and how you’ve used these skills.
An achievement is accomplishing something. Don’t confuse responsibilities with achievements – they are different. Achievements are unique to you; responsibilities are what anybody undertaking that role would do. Achievements can make you stand out from others who may have similar skills and experience.
For example, a responsibility could be:
- researching and writing articles for a company newsletter
Whereas, an achievement could be:
- devised and implemented the introduction of a company newsletter, improving staff morale and communication throughout the organisation
If your achievements are measurable (they saved you or the company money or time) then try and include details of this too.
What are the pros and cons?
You might like to use a targeted CV format if you:
- want to change career
- have had a varied career or lots of jobs and you want to describe the experience you’ve gained as a whole
- want to target your CV towards one particular job
- have got gaps in your employment history
- want to emphasise skills you have gained in previous jobs that you don’t use in your current or most recent job.
Drawbacks with targeted CVs can include:
- one of the more unusual formats – some employers might not be familiar with it
- if you’ve worked for well-known employers or you’ve had many promotions they will be on the second page, so not as noticeable
- setting alarm bells ringing for employers – some may feel a skills-based CV format is an attempt to hide something (such as gaps in your work history).
View an example of a targeted CV 
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