A curriculum vitae in tabular form is standard in applications today. In it, applicants describe – completely – their professional career, in “tabular” form based on the “American” or “antichronological” model. Means: The vita starts with the current position first. Together with the cover letter, the tabular curriculum vitae forms the core of your application. In fact, most HR professionals read the résumé first. This turns it into a kind of first work sample and should be created with the greatest care.
Tabular CV: Structure
The tabular curriculum vitae is used by around 95 percent of applicants today. For good reason: HR professionals love the clarity and compressed expressiveness. Competencies, experiences, successes, soft skills, interests, and hobbies – all of this can be presented in the curriculum vitae in a compact and precise manner on a few pages.
The most important requirements for the tabular curriculum vitae:
- Great clarity through layout and design
- Clear structure in terms of structure and structure
- Relevant expressiveness of content and competencies
- Appropriate length based on professional experience
For young professionals with up to five years of professional experience, one page is enough. The curriculum vitae of experienced professionals and managers should not exceed three pages.
Important information in the résumé
A résumé in tabular form should show at a glance that you meet ALL the requirements (see: Must qualifications). Professional as well as personal. For this purpose, the contents of the tabular curriculum vitae are divided into sections and sorted according to headings. This creates a clear structure. The sorting itself takes place in decreasing importance – starting with mandatory components followed by optional information:
- Mandatory information
- Voluntary information
Please never underestimate the interests and hobbies. They are proven to help recruiters learn more about a candidate’s personality and round off the applicant’s overall picture. However, only mention hobbies that (indirectly) document (social) skills that are relevant to the job.
Tabular resume: content
It is crucial that the content of the tabular curriculum vitae is complete (meaning that it is meaningful) and has no gaps. Our checklist for the résumé (PDF) will help. Unfounded gaps in the résumé, as well as gaps in personal information, can quickly mean the end. So please pay attention to these details:
Heading and Name
A resume in tabular form always has a heading. It is either simply “curriculum vitae” or “curriculum vitae” PLUS first name and surname. Whether you write your name first and then your résumé or put the headline in front of your name or put it below or next to it is a question of the layout.
Personal details
The personal data includes address (street, zip code, city), telephone number, e-mail address, date of birth, and place of birth. This information is mandatory. Marital status, nationality, and religious denomination, on the other hand, are voluntary information (optional). If you like, you can write your current job clearly in addition to your personal data. This can be useful if you only want to change employers, but not occupation or position.
Desired position
It is a little résumé trick that has already helped many applicants to stand out from the crowd in a positive way: State the position you are aiming for from the job advertisement before the “professional career”.
Professional career
Formulate the previous jobs and stations as precisely and compactly as possible. The times (standard: “MM / YYYY – MM / YYYY”) are on the left, the stations on the right. If there is a break of more than three months between two stations, one speaks of a “gap in the résumé” that needs to be explained. Shorter times are allowed for the professional reorientation and application phase. So that the tabular curriculum vitae does not become a mere listing, you should work out the benefits that previous employers have had through you. The following structure has proven itself:
- Position: What job (title) did you have?
- Employer: Which companies did you work for? What kind of companies were they (prestige, competitors)? Correct company name with company form and registered office (possibly number of employees).
- Tasks and successes: What were you responsible for, what did you achieve? Numbers!
Apprenticeship/school/studies
After the career, the educational path follows. You can also call this section “training”, “studies” or “educational path”. The training includes studies (possible scholarships), training, school education, and school leaving certificates (including grades and thesis topic). But also military or alternative service.
Internships
This section is intended for young professionals who have no relevant professional experience. The experience gained during the internship is all the more interesting. Refer to the position and name the skills that you were able to acquire during the internship.
Special knowledge
Additional qualifications, further training, and certificates complete the profile. Again, only select competencies that could be important for the position. The basic rule for the tabular curriculum vitae: All information must offer added value for the intended job. Everything else is not relevant, reading ballast, and should be deleted.
Interests and hobbies
Especially for young professionals, the career and training are often the same. Therefore, they can differentiate themselves with interests and hobbies. For example:
- Involvement in (sports) clubs
- Volunteering
- Experience abroad
- Foreign languages/language trips
- IT and EDP skills
- Driver’s license, forklift license, crane license
- Awards, publications
- References
Place, date and signature
You should add both place, date, and signature by hand in the tabular curriculum vitae. The data underscores the fact that it is up-to-date and signals that this résumé was not recycled, it was only formulated for this position. The signature documents the correctness and truth of the information provided.
Optimize resume: layout tricks
Companies are looking for real personalities who fit into the team or complement it in a meaningful way. A mere collection of qualifications is therefore rarely convincing. So your resume in tabular form always needs a personal note. You have these design options for this:
Name sections cleverly
Vary the terms or summarize them, for example: “Personal data” / “About me” / “About myself”. “School and training” become “training”, and the two sections “training” and “further training” become the “training and further training” section. Instead of “training”, academics write “studies” or “academic career”.
Use design elements
You can use bold letters to emphasize headings such as “Professional background” or the dates. With thin and subtle lines you direct the reading flow or the direction of the reader’s gaze. You should be sparing with highlighting such as colors: In addition to black and white, please only use one other spot color. For example, you can use the same color for headings that the addressed employer uses in his logo. In this way you subtly suggest belonging.
Include application photo
Even if the application photo has only been a voluntary part of the tabular curriculum vitae since the AGG came into force, you should not do without it. Most recruiters want to – literally – get an idea of the applicant.
Common CV Errors
Make sure that the overall impression of the application documents is correct. The tabular curriculum vitae, cover letter, and (if applicable) cover sheet must look like a single piece. To be on the safe side, use the application checklist (PDF). Sloppy design and design spoil the overall impression:
- Indentation: Instead of using a table or the TAB key, some candidates use the space bar for indentation. Since the spacing between characters is never even in modern fonts, the layout begins to “flutter”. Unsightly!
- Uniformity: Sometimes headings are set in bold, sometimes in italics, sometimes larger than the body text, sometimes the same size … Always make sure that the typeface is uniform. The basic concept is your individual design – but please stick to it consistently afterward.
Digital CV: Pay attention to the filenames
If you send your CV in electronic form, you should always use a PDF file. The “PDF” file format can be opened on all computers. To do this, after completing the tabular résumé in Word, click on the menu item “Edit ➠ Save As” and select the “PDF” format instead of “.docx”. Please do not forget to always save a copy of a .docx version. You can only change and edit this CV later.
Tip: Make sure you give the PDF a “meaningful” filename. For example “CV-First Name-Last Name.pdf”. This way it can be assigned to you later without opening the file. You can find tips for merging multiple PDFs HERE.