There are various ways of presenting employment details. The most common way is to use reverse chronological order starting with your most recent experience. However, if you have work experience relevant to the job you are applying for you may wish to highlight this by presenting it first in this section regardless of when it was undertaken. You could use sub-headings such as ‘industrial’, ‘relevant’ or ‘professional’ experience to distinguish certain periods of work from ‘other’ or ‘additional’ employment. While ‘other’ is very important and should always be included in your CV, it is important that you get best value from all of your experience. Presenting the most relevant first is a good way to do this.

Dates of when employment was undertaken, along with company name and job title, should be included for all periods of employment as well as the main duties and a description of the skills used/developed. The amount of detail presented should be determined by how relevant the experience is to the job you are applying for – give more information on the jobs/duties that are relevant and less on those that are not so relevant. Try not to just list everything that you did/gained from each post but try to pick out the things you did that will interest the employer and demonstrate your suitability for the post. It is important to ensure this information is presented in an interesting and informative way.

If you have a long list of jobs you may have difficulty presenting the information effectively. Grouping the jobs over a time period may help e.g. 2006 – 2011: employment included shop work, bar work, nursing auxiliary.

Be sure to include any voluntary experience, either within the work experience section or under a separate ‘Voluntary Work Experience’ section. If you have worked in your family business you should highlight the range of duties and responsibilities undertaken as for any other position.