The professional experience section is the most consulted by recruiters. Whatever the template you are going to use, this is the section that recruiters will judge you on first. Professional experience is therefore the most important part of your CV, because it gives the recruiter information about your professional abilities.
Find out how to present your professional experiences in your CV:
- How to best structure the section in your CV
- Write your journey like a professional
- How to enhance your experiences according to your profile
- 10 CV examples to present your professional experiences
How to structure the Professional Experience section
This section of the Curriculum Vitae can be titled “Professional Experience”, “Professional Career” or more generally “Experience” .
Generally speaking, professional experiences in a CV must tell a coherent story . It is about showing the evolution of your acquired skills, the strengthening of your expertise, the increase in your responsibilities or the diversification of your missions. So keep in mind that repeating the same tasks/missions 10 times in each of your experiences does not enhance your career, even if you have actually carried out the same missions.
🛑 Pro tip
Your career path should be a mille-feuille, where each step allows you to explore another facet of your profession or your aspirations. To maintain this narrative, sort your experiences in reverse chronological order, with the most recent at the top of the list and the oldest below.
For each of your experiences, please specify:
- Dates : Don’t just specify the years, but also the months. For example, indicating 2010 – 2011 may be vague for the recruiter. Conversely, showing only the dates will force them to do the calculation. So give them shortcuts: June 2016 – September 2017 (1 year and 3 months).
- Position held : do not necessarily refer to the title specified on your employment contract. Indeed, job titles are often specific to the company and are difficult for everyone to understand. So do not hesitate to rename it, without cheating of course.
- The name of the company : this will accompany the job title in order to understand in which structure you have evolved in this position.
- The main tasks carried out : we will come back to this just after.
- Responsibilities : unlike the main tasks performed, this involves presenting (often in the form of an introduction to your missions) an overview of your role within the company. This is very useful for being able to present the context, the level of autonomy or the complexity of your missions.
Write your professional experiences like a pro
When it comes to the content of your professional experiences, the goal is simple: be specific! If you are too evasive, too vague or imprecise, it will give the impression that you are filling the gaps in your CV with skills that you do not fully master. OR that you are simply lying. Result: no one will take any risks and they will not call you.
Use action verbs to highlight the various missions and experiences you have had. And ideally in the infinitive. For example: “Setting up regular monitoring of new technologies” rather than “Monitoring new technologies”.
Action verbs help you project yourself into your professional experience and encourage you to tell it briefly. Think of your professional experiences as little stories. But be careful not to tell too much. One or two lines can be enough. Keep the story long for your cover letter and your interview.
Highlight the results you have achieved during your various experiences , or mention what you have been able to contribute in the context of your previous missions. This will allow the recruiter to better understand your added value and your leadership!
How to highlight your experiences according to your profile?
To enhance your professional background, we recommend that you focus on the most coherent and rewarding part for the job offer you are applying for today.
The 5 typical profiles
Depending on the profile you belong to, here is our advice for writing your professional experiences well:
- You have worked for little-known or unknown companies. You can add some information about them such as their workforce, turnover or sector of activity.
- You are a student without experience or a recent graduate. You can include here your internships completed during your studies, or your student jobs. More advice is given to you to make a CV for a student without experience or a CV for an internship .
- You have worked in the same job in different companies. Be careful not to repeat information, which would be of little interest to the recruiter. Instead, highlight your successes and detail your missions, for example.
- You have an atypical background. Check out our tips for highlighting an atypical profile . This is not a weakness but on the contrary a strength if you know how to highlight the good points in your profile.
- You have a lot of experience and/or you are retraining : The goal of your CV is to convince the recruiter of the relevance of your profile for the desired position. Do not be exhaustive. Select the experiences and training that you will need to highlight. The job description on the job offer can help you because it often details the skills required.
💡 Good to know
Get inspired by our complete guide to highlighting your professional experiences, whatever your level. More than 300 professional CV templates of all levels are available on our site to save you time.
Do you have a gap in your professional experience?
You should, as far as possible, avoid "gaps" in your professional experience. By "gap", we mean a period during which you have not carried out any professional activity.
Try to fill them in as much as possible, because not putting anything in lets the recruiter imagine the worst.
Although you were inactive during this period, you must have had other things to do. There can be many ways to justify this period of inactivity.
Have you had any training ? Have you been involved in any association activities? Was this an opportunity for you to think about a business creation project, or about your professional and personal projects? Have you travelled?
For example, if you have traveled abroad for a long time, do not limit this trip to the part about your interests but really integrate it into your journey. This will allow you to highlight your knowledge and mastery of a language, but also your curiosity, your autonomy and your open-mindedness.
10 examples to present your professional experiences on your CV
Are you ready to apply our advice? To help you a little more, we are sharing with you our list of the 10 best CV examples to highlight your professional experiences and turn them into assets.
Our Complete CV Template
This CV template is aptly named as it offers a complete, clear and structured layout of your application. Professional experiences are highlighted in the main section, well organized. They offer a great possibility of details thanks to bullet points.
The recruiter will have easy access to the information that interests him thanks to the colored titles that prioritize the resume. As a little bonus, a block is reserved for recommendations to finish convincing your future employer!
📥 Download the Complete CV template
A formal resume template
The simplicity and precision of the formal CV template can only convince your recruiter. Thanks to its well-thought-out structure, professional experiences stand out clearly and facilitate the search for information.
Your previous jobs can be integrated from the most recent to the oldest, announced by colorful job titles and a timeline. The little extra? Progress bars for your skills and the integration of pictograms.
📥 Download Formal Resume Template
The Elegant Resume Template
Although this CV example is adorned with numerous sections and colorful titles, the attention remains focused on the professional experiences which are clearly highlighted.
This block is the first in the main section of the CV and allows you to detail each of your positions held. The frieze and the company names in bold make it easier to read. The document is airy, clear and the indication of the percentage of your skills is a real plus to make you stand out.
📥 Download the elegant CV template
Our CV template for beginners
Are you just starting out and don't have much professional experience yet? It is still possible to highlight them with our special CV template for beginners and recent graduates.
In this example, education and qualifications are presented before your experiences. Previous positions held stand out in the second part of the document, with a wide possibility of details.
📥 Download the Beginner CV template
The WEB CV template
This CV template is ideal for highlighting your skills and professional experience in the digital field. Its appearance is reminiscent of a website to attract the attention of your recruiter.
The main section of the CV first shows your experience and personal qualities, then focuses on your technical skills. The little extra? It is possible to add links to your networks and your level of expertise for different software.
📥 Download the Web CV template
Our Senior CV template
This resume example is for more experienced profiles who have accumulated a lot of experience within the same companies.
To make it easier for the recruiter to read and for a clearer CV, references have been integrated into professional experiences. A colored circle highlights your various previous jobs. For each job description, bold subtitles are possible to detail each of the functions held. A block even allows you to integrate references!
📥 Download the Senior CV template
The Logo CV template
To grab your recruiter's attention and convince them, this original CV template offers the integration of logos.
It is indeed possible to add the logo of each company you have worked for, in order to highlight your professional experiences! Thanks to a well-thought-out structure, bright colors and its different typographies, this resume can only make you stand out from other candidates.
📥 Download the logo CV template
A graphic resume template
The graphic CV template offers an original and well-structured design that is particularly suitable for creative profiles.
Professional experiences are highlighted in a different way than just a list! Presented in the form of bubbles, they use the classic CV codes: Job title, location, length of employment and description. With its graphic shapes and structure, this CV is almost reminiscent of a professional web page!
📥 Download the graphic CV template
Our synthetic CV model
Bring a summary of your strengths and skills with this synthetic CV template. It focuses on the essentials and offers a modern, original design while remaining sober, but above all very clear and airy!
Professional experiences are highlighted in a timeline, from the most recent position to the oldest. A short description is possible to detail your missions and your results. We particularly like the many pictograms and graphics!
📥 Download the Synthetic CV template
A striking CV template
If this resume template is called "Percussive", it is because it has the ability to attract the eye and attention of recruiters. Thanks to a colorful header and an elegant design, it stands out from traditional applications.
To suit your search, professional experiences are highlighted in the main section of the document. The job title and company name are clearly highlighted by bolding. Bulleted lists are possible to describe your missions and tasks.
📥 Download the Impactful CV template
Have you found the perfect CV template to highlight your professional experiences and attract the attention of your recruiter? Download it and put into practice all our tips to make the difference.
Transform your weaknesses into strengths, highlight your qualities and follow all our advice to write the best CV . We support you in writing each section of your CV to put all the chances on your side and land a job interview.
