subject: 3 Different Formats Available For A Resume Guide [print this page] When things are bad, everything that you may want to do would come under the rubric of something important. This applies even to the simple act of writing your resume. Begin by finding out which format would be best in your case. This article shows you the three basic options you can choose from.
1. Chronological Format
The format most frequently used is the chronological format. This format lists your dates and places you worked at and the job titles you have had. Each of these items is listed in a heading together with your accomplishments. The question is, where do you use this particular format?
If you are not going to make a career change, this is the format for you. If your past job also shows growth in your career and more and more responsibility in your past job, again this is the format for you, especially if you had enjoyed your last job. Or if there have been no gaps in your work record.
2. Functional resume
The resume guide then moves on to the functional format. This format uses headings under your list of skills and experience and will let you list things in order of importance, such as your achievements and their relevance. The dates and former employments and job titles would come up as a final section in this kind of resume.
The functional resume has its own special uses. If you are making a big change in your career. In which case your past work experience is not important. Even if your past work experience is messy, you want to downplay it then. If you haven't worked for a while, or if you are trying to impress your future employer with some earlier job experience in your background.
3. Combination resume
This kind of resume simply combines the first two in order to give emphasis to both your work experience and your various job skills. For the first half of the resume you will list your work experience, and for the backend part you will indicate your skills with subheadings and then place your achievements and skills into proper categories.
If you use a resume guide, it will show you that this format is ideal when you are making a significant change in your career, but you want to transfer those skills that seem to be transferable. Though it's also possible to use this format if you want to do more of the same kind of job you had been doing before. Don't forget to include experiences you didn't do for hire during times of hiatus between jobs in the past. Whatever would seem to be relevant in terms of the job you are hoping to get.
