5 CV trends of 2025 to revamp your job hunt

In the immortal words of Take That, everything changes. And that’s so true of the job market. It’s unrecognisable to what it was 10, or even five, years ago. Look at the shift that the pandemic brought – more employees type: entry-hyperlink id: 5J9Ox5f8t2CXBXaq93WR32 or choosing flexible working for better type: entry-hyperlink id: 6pHNiSPN3wV3voMqVMLoft. With employment practices also evolving, you may be wondering: what are the CV trends of 2025? Let’s take a look.

What to look out for in 2025 – your CV refresh checklist

As automation creeps more and more into the workplace, old positions die out. But in their place, new, diversified roles spring up. And while future-proofing your job prospects might sound like an exercise in all things new, it actually requires a fresh take on something ever-evolving – type: entry-hyperlink id: 1Y3k8P3ut6tTIgAPKQTDcE.

Your CV needs to adapt to changing needs and what employers are looking for. Here are some CV trends 2025 to explore:

1. Try a modern design and look 

You want to create a great first impression, and the best way to do that is to showcase your skills and achievements in a type: entry-hyperlink id: 7ES6dMsav1OZchi9CNA7Qt. Not only will it look great, it will be easy to read, and won’t have a recruiter searching for your contact details that you’ve buried in a footer on the second page.

Top tip: Make good use of the white space and list your achievements under each role in a bulleted format, as this draws the eye and breaks up the content. And while you might want to play around with type: entry-hyperlink id: 4uRJHKlmEQWYpxGMtmoj34 and style, don’t get too excited – this brings us to our next CV trend of 2025…

2. Recognise that recruiting robots are the future

… Well, sort of. We’re not talking red-eyed metallic humanoids, but applicant tracking systems (ATS) used to screen CVs. With them, recruiters don’t have to trawl through hundreds of CVs anymore – the ATS do the initial search and select for them.

But what does this mean for the average job seeker, and for CV trends in 2025? For a start, you need an type: entry-hyperlink id: 50l6AtsSO9Z0XJ3v5DoWW7 that prioritises keywords – rather than bold visual elements like type: entry-hyperlink id: 1EzxfzMDSHJ1K3GUoA50Dt – as an ATS seeks out clear text matches of job suitability. The flipside of this is that flashy images and verbose language, however poetic, need to be reworked. 

That's not to say that your CV should be linguistically stripped back to the bare minimum, as there will still be a living, breathing human being to impress at some point during the recruitment process.

One option is to enlist a type: entry-hyperlink id: 3N1QEPa4NgYjxVWduCq6xH who has the expertise to strike the perfect balance of crafting a document with software-seducing words that will also please the HR Manager.

3. Let your soft skills sing

What might seem a surprising CV trend in 2025 is the increasing importance of showing off yourtype: entry-hyperlink id: 34aPnaWJJrOSn9e926ZDfJ. Seen as totally unimportant for many years on a CV, these types of skills are on an upward trend. In fact, a Deloitte survey projects that by 2030, jobs requiring soft skills will constitute 63% of all roles. 

Again, this ties to the changing job market, where employers are now looking at the whole candidate, and not just their hard and technical skills. You might be a manager in a tech firm, but if you don’t have essential skills like effective communication, teamwork, and type: entry-hyperlink id: 6mJEf5ChkcrbmLihUqWqTJ, then you won’t last long.

Top tip: Don’t just list these soft skills, show how you’ve used them in past positions with examples, type: entry-hyperlink id: 350hMrliBxhK6ICMBRht4H wherever possible to provide context.

4. Mind the gap

Be it for a month, a year, or longer,career breaks and type: entry-hyperlink id: 5obovKSite1CPQVomCJHbr are becoming more and more commonplace on CVs. It’s another one of the CV trends in 2025. Little wonder really – we’re working into our 70s these days, which means a good half-century at the grind if you don’t opt for any time out.

This impacts recruiters, who have to rethink their long-standing aversion to seeing type: entry-hyperlink id: 7HCJFfQfsZz4lVW2n4uwpQ – once seen as either being lazy or unable to land a job, which often wasn’t the case, especially if you’ve taken a break type: entry-hyperlink id: 4tVjunKWaqFlh1yhHqQDCG.

Top tips:

• Do fill that gap with type: entry-hyperlink id: 4ziGt68s5p0z1ptsrihYUN, related type: entry-hyperlink id: 5B27mOOpajTEGMfYw5Iucj, or type: entry-hyperlink id: 27yz3H1TnvVpaC1BCgELRh opportunities to show you developed valuable type: entry-hyperlink id: DfkG9atpXaKGnVoremw23 

• Don’t try to hide a career gap with a touch of historical revisionism or fudged dates - any recruiter worth their salt will cotton onto this straightaway.

5. Make your online presence stand out

We live in a digital age, awash with social media posts and likes. One of the main CV trends of 2025 is incorporating your online presence within your job search. This includes type: entry-hyperlink id: DLTjTjCorenTdsDKysMuJ that’s up-to-date and complements your CV, with a compelling summary and a type: entry-hyperlink id: GxHYDWF5qJjY7dw7Mj4gF.

It’s also vital that you type: entry-hyperlink id: 1wUgJPXa4hUFVxxRRYYLTe on your CV, so recruiters can easily navigate to your page. Within the platform, get into the habit of type: entry-hyperlink id: ZZRC9Tr7gMk9SVMOi1MsY while showcasing your personality by:

• Posting engaging and original content

• Bringing relevant skills to the fore

• Refining your posting strategies and learning what gets the most traction

• Professionally contributing to the latest discussions

Besides LinkedIn, TikTok is also another platform to keep an eye on. Creating a TikTok CV might seem a bit left field or too uncomfortable to do, like type: entry-hyperlink id: 3CvvzRiDdj1YP49SridKLH, but it’s a growing trend, so maybe it’s time to get down with the kids! People are increasingly using creative videos on social media to demonstrate their key skills and personality to potential employers.

Now, it’s not for everyone, of course, but it’s all about embracing new ways in 2025! 

Why relish these 2025 CV trends

According to the Office for National Statistics’ January 2025 labour market report, the UK’s employment rate stood as 74.8% for Sept to Nov 2024, with the unemployment rate at 4.4% for the same period. 

In such a competitive and type: entry-hyperlink id: QxhVWpX7x3wSWWQH6P8LG, keeping up with CV trends will give you the best chance of getting a job as you can showcase your experience and skills in a way that resonates with employers and modern hiring practices.

It’s daunting, keeping pace with so many job market changes. But as fast as things are moving in the recruitment game, incremental tweaks to your CV will keep you ahead of the curve.

To keep up with these CV trends 2025, remember to:

• Be mindful of new selection software

• Focus on core strengths, including soft skills

• Embrace any career gaps

• Make it all about your brand

By implementing these key criteria, your future will be bright indeed.

Professional writers are trained in the most up-to-date CV tactics and expectations. To ensure that you're properly equipped for the modern job search, why not make this year the year you work with a professional CV writer to get the best results?

This article was originally written by Alasdair Lane and has been updated by Elizabeth Openshaw.

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