CV template: Redundancy

Redundancy is a form of dismissal and occurs when employers need to reduce their workforce. Therefore, while losing your job can be tough, redundancy is often easier to cope with since the reason for your dismissal is down to the company, not your actions.

However, that doesn’t necessarily make the process of losing your job and finding a new one any less stressful.

To make your job search that little bit easier, we’ve worked with the experts at StandOut CV to produce a redundancy CV template for you.

While this template will help you paint your skills and experience in the best possible light, we must remind you to use it as a guide since everyone’s abilities are different.

For more advice on redundancy and what to expect, check out our guide or keep reading for more CV tips.

Craft a punchy personal profile

To make sure your CV impresses from the start, you need to craft a punchy personal profile. Your personal profile should tell recruiters three things: who you are, what you can offer the company and your career goals.

You must be as concise as possible and avoid stuffing your profile with overused buzzwords such as ‘highly motivated’ and ‘extensive experience’. If you really want to impress, pop in a few industry keywords you’ve picked up from the job description to prove you’re a match for the role and convince the recruiter to keep reading.

Insert a ‘career break’ section

If several months have passed since your redundancy took place, it’s worth inserting a ‘career break’ section at the top of your employment history. This is to show prospective employers that despite being out of work, you have still achieved and learnt some valuable skills.

In this section, you might like to detail any voluntary experience you’ve gained or perhaps some courses you’ve taken. Alternatively, you may like to detail some soft skills from life experience. For example, job searching for a few months is a primary example of motivation and organisation.

Tailor your CV to every application

Rather than create a generic CV that covers all bases and firing it off to any job you like the look of, you should take the time tailor it to each and every application. This will strengthen your chances of landing an interview as you will show off skills relevant to the role in question.

All you need to do is go through the job description, pulling out keywords and phrases. Then, inject these keywords naturally into your CV to prove you’re a great match.

You might also like to insert a ‘key skills’ section under your personal profile and list your skills and achievements that are relevant to the role, once again showing why you’re the ideal candidate for interview despite being out of work.

For more tips on how to write a CV, see our guide.