How to write a CV when you are changing career

A career-change CV fails when it presents a history and hopes the reader does the translation. They will not. Ten seconds per CV does not leave room for imagination.

Your job is to do the translation for them.

Lead with a summary that names the change

Do not hide it. Address it in the first three lines, plainly and without apology:

"Operations manager moving into data analysis. Six years running supply chain reporting for a 200-person manufacturer, latterly building the forecasting models myself. Completed the Google Data Analytics certificate in 2025; looking for an analyst role."

That reads as a deliberate move by someone who has already started. "Seeking a challenging new opportunity to leverage my skills" reads as someone who was made redundant.

Restructure, do not just reword

Standard chronological order works against you. Try:

1. Summary naming the target role
2. Relevant skills or projects — the evidence for the new field
3. Professional experience, described in the new field's terms
4. Education and recent training

The third point is the real work. Take each past role and describe the parts that transfer, in the vocabulary of the field you are entering.

Translate concretely

• Teacher to corporate trainer: "Designed and delivered a curriculum for 120 learners across three ability groups" — the same work, named as instructional design.
• Retail manager to operations: rostering, stock control, shrinkage, P&L for a site.
• Nurse to clinical research: protocol adherence, documentation standards, patient consent, data accuracy under audit.

Same facts. Different frame.

Evidence beats intention

Every career changer says they are motivated. Very few show evidence. A completed course, a certification, a freelance project, a volunteering role in the new field — one of these is worth more than a page of enthusiasm.

If you have nothing yet, get one small thing before you apply broadly. It changes the CV from a request into a case.

Do not hide the older career

Attempting to disguise a switch produces a confusing CV and a suspicious reader. Ten years in one field is experience, not a liability — maturity, reliability and commercial judgement transfer everywhere.

What to cut

Everything that only makes sense inside your old field: internal system names, sector-specific jargon, roles from more than a decade ago in unrelated work, technical certifications with no bearing on the new one.

Layout

The Classic template is a good default, because it lets you reorder sections freely — in the builder you can move Projects and Skills above Experience, which is the single most useful change a career changer can make.