When you're ready to apply · 6 min read
How do I write a CV when I'm changing careers?
Lead with the work the new role needs that you've already done, under the new field's names. Then add one small piece of evidence from the new field itself.
The short answer
A career change CV leads with what you've done that the new role needs, described in the new field's language. Start with a two-line summary naming the role you're going for. Group your experience so the most relevant work comes first, and translate your old job's terms into the new field's. Then add one piece of evidence from the new work itself: a small project, a course with something you made, or volunteer work. Keep every claim true.
On this page 4 sections
A career change CV has one job: make it easy for someone in the new field to see why you'd be good at their work, in their words.
Translate your old work into the new field's words
Take three posts for the role you want and list what they ask for. Then go through your current job and find where you've done each thing. A teacher moving into training design has planned learning, assessed it and changed it based on results. Write it that way.
| Old wording | New field's wording |
|---|---|
| Planned lessons for 30 students | Designed learning for groups of 30 and measured what they learned |
| Handled customer complaints | Resolved escalations and fed patterns back to the product team |
| Managed the shop's rota | Planned staffing against demand and cut overtime |
Put the most relevant work first
- A two-line summary that names the new role and the two strengths you'd bring.
- Within each job, the bullet points that matter to the new field go first.
- Older or unrelated roles can shrink to one line each.
Add one piece of evidence from the new work
Reading about a field is hard to put on a CV. Doing a small piece of it is easy: a short project, a volunteer task, a sample you made for a real person. List it like a job, with what you did and what happened.
OffLadder CV is our free Chrome extension for this step. Open a job post and it lists the post's must-haves, shows which ones your CV already mentions, and rewrites your CV for that job. It checks every change against the CV you gave it, so it never adds experience you don't have.
Questions people ask
- Should I use a skills-based CV for a career change?
- A short skills section at the top helps, but keep your jobs and dates in order below it. Many readers distrust a CV that hides when and where you did things.
- Should I remove my old job titles?
- No. Keep the titles accurate, and make the bullet points underneath describe the parts of the work that carry into the new field.
- How do I show experience in a field I haven't worked in?
- Do a small piece of the work and put it on the CV as a project: what you made, for whom, and what happened. One finished example beats a list of courses.
- Do I need a cover letter?
- For a career change, yes when you can. It's where you explain the move in two sentences and point at the evidence.
- How does OffLadder help with a career change?
- Laddie helps you find a direction and try a small piece of the work, which gives your CV something new to say. When you apply, OffLadder CV shows which of a post's must-haves your CV already shows and rewrites it for that job.
Exercises are practice, not evidence of career fit or a qualification. How to read our guides and report a correction.
How this page is written
Sources support the factual background, not a guarantee that an exercise predicts career fit. Fictional practice material is labelled. Dates record content updates; no independent expert review is implied. More about OffLadder.