There are three types of CV. The chronological one lists your experience from the most recent to the oldest: it is the format most valued in Switzerland and the safest choice. The functional one highlights skills and hides dates: recruiters are wary of it and screening software reads it poorly, so avoid it. The combination one pairs a block of skills at the top with a chronological history below: useful for a career change or after a break. When in doubt, go with the chronological CV.
"I'm completely changing careers, a classic CV will work against me, won't it?" "I have a two-year gap, how do I hide it?" As soon as a career path isn't perfectly linear, the same question comes up: should you drop the classic CV for a format that puts skills front and centre?
The answer comes down to one simple distinction between three types of CV. In this article, we explain what each one highlights, we say which one Swiss recruiters actually expect, and we give a clear rule for choosing based on your situation.
What are the three types of CV?
A CV isn't just a list: it's a way of organising information to guide the recruiter's eye. Three structures exist, and they don't tell the same story.
| CV type | What it highlights | Structure |
|---|---|---|
| Chronological | The career path and its progression | Experience from most recent to oldest, with dates and employers |
| Functional | Skills | Skill blocks at the top, dates pushed down or absent |
| Combination (hybrid) | Skills and career path | A block of key skills at the top, then a lightened chronological history |
The chronological CV, often called reverse-chronological, is the format everyone knows. The functional one flips the logic: it groups your achievements by theme (project management, sales, technical) without clearly tying them to a role or a date. The combination CV takes the best of both: it opens with your strengths, then reassures with a readable history.
According to Hellowork, it is exactly this difference in emphasis, experience versus skills, that sets the three formats apart.
Which CV type do Swiss recruiters prefer?
In French-speaking Switzerland, the CV follows codes of restraint and clarity. In this context, the chronological CV is the most valued format, because it gives the recruiter exactly what they are looking for: who you are, where you have worked, when, and in what order.
The Swiss CV has an advantage over the French one: it can be a little longer, up to two pages for an experienced profile (see our article on how long a CV should be in Switzerland). So you have the room to lay out a full chronological history without compressing it too much.
The functional CV, by contrast, is received with suspicion, and for concrete reasons. According to Jobscan and several recruitment specialists, a format that hides dates triggers a simple reflex in the recruiter: "what is this person trying to hide?" They immediately picture an employment gap, a dismissal, or a string of short roles. Even when you have nothing to hide, the functional structure creates suspicion, and it forces the recruiter into a reconstruction job they don't have time to do.
Does the functional CV pass screening software (ATS)?
This is the point that really settles the debate. Many Swiss companies run applications through screening software, the ATS, before a human reads them. These tools are built to read an expected structure: a job title, an employer, dates, a description. A chronological CV suits them. A functional CV does not.
According to Jobscan, screening software struggles to extract the timeline from a CV organised by skills: without dates tied to your experience, the tool doesn't know when you did what, or where. As a result, your CV can be misread, or even discarded before it reaches a recruiter. To understand how this filter works, read our article on the CV that passes the ATS robot.
The conclusion is clear: whatever your profile, a purely functional CV penalises you twice, at the human read and at the automatic screening stage.
Which CV type for a career change or an atypical path?
If the functional CV is best avoided, what do you do when your path isn't linear? The answer is the combination CV. It lets you put your skills front and centre without ever removing the dates, so without triggering suspicion or breaking the automatic read.
The recommended structure for a career change, according to CVadapt, is simple: a block of transferable skills at the top of the page, followed by a lightened chronological history. You first show what you can do for the target role, then you prove that your career path exists and holds together.
| Your situation | Recommended CV type | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Linear career in a single field | Chronological | Your progression speaks for itself |
| Beginner, student, first job | Chronological | Simple, readable, expected |
| Career change into a new profession | Combination | Transferable skills go first, without hiding the dates |
| Return after a break (parental, health, training) | Combination | The skills block leads the eye, the history stays honest |
| Multiple short roles, assignments, temp work | Combination | Groups the skills, keeps a clear chronological thread |
| Tempted to "hide" a gap or a dismissal | Honest chronological, never functional | Hiding dates makes the suspicion worse |
A reflex that helps with a career change: reframe each skill using the vocabulary of the target sector. A teacher moving into corporate training no longer talks about "lessons" but about "curriculum design" and "workshop facilitation." The substance doesn't change, the language does.
How do you choose in practice?
Ask yourself three questions in order:
- Does my path follow a clear line within a single field? If yes, go with the chronological CV, without hesitation. It's the safest format in Switzerland.
- Am I changing careers, or is my path full of breaks? If yes, go for the combination CV: skills up top, dated history below.
- Am I tempted by the functional format to hide something? Don't do it. An acknowledged gap is easier to manage than a concealed one: in a cover letter, or with an honest line. See our mistakes that get an application rejected.
When in doubt, the chronological CV stays the default choice. It betrays no one and it passes everywhere, human and software alike.
That's the logic behind candidat.app: from your real background, the tool generates a CV structured to Swiss codes, chronological or combination depending on your situation, calibrated to pass screening software, without ever inventing experience. You keep control of the content, and you save the time you would otherwise spend on formatting.
In short
There are three types of CV. The chronological one highlights your career path and remains the preferred format of Swiss recruiters: it's the default choice. The functional one puts skills front and centre but hides dates, which arouses recruiters' suspicion and blocks screening software: avoid it. The combination one opens with a block of skills then keeps a dated history: it's the right answer for a career change, after a break, or for a fragmented path. The final rule is simple: chronological by default, combination for atypical paths, functional never.
FAQ
What is the most commonly used CV type in Switzerland?
The chronological CV, also called reverse-chronological. It lists your experience from the most recent to the oldest, with dates and employers. It's the format expected by the vast majority of Swiss recruiters and the most compatible with screening software.
Is the functional CV really to be avoided?
In almost every case, yes. By hiding dates, it pushes the recruiter to wonder what you're concealing, and it is poorly read by screening software that can't reconstruct your timeline. If you want to highlight your skills, use a combination CV instead.
Which CV format for a career change?
The combination CV. You place a block of transferable skills at the top of the page, then a lightened chronological history below. You first show what you can do for the new profession, without ever removing the dates from your path.
How do I handle a gap in my CV without switching to the functional format?
Keep an honest chronological structure. A gap of a few months often needs no explanation; a longer gap can be named simply (training, personal project, family reasons) and expanded on in a cover letter. Hiding dates draws more attention than the gap itself.
Does a combination CV pass screening software?
Yes, as long as it keeps a dated history with job titles and employers. That's the key difference from the functional CV: the combination format highlights skills without removing the timeline, so the screening software finds the information it needs.