Resume Writing Styles

There are three main types of resumes which recruiters look for; Chronological, Functional, and Combination. You personal qualification and career goals will help you choose which one to use when creating your resume.

First off, a chronological resume focuses on your past employment experiences; used when you have years under your belt working for other businesses. You start your resume with the most recent position and work your way back in history. Most recruiters favour this style of resume because they can quickly identify your education and work experience towards their field of employment. Persons new to the working world may find this style hard to create; as they may not have enough work experience.

The functional resume puts attention on your skills and characteristics rather than work experience. The two resumes obviously start the same, with your name, address, etc; but instead of listing jobs, it highlights skills and accomplishments. You can also use this style to offset a negative working experience (you were fired for not doing your job well enough). Recent grads normally find this style very useful as the amount of work experience they have is minimal, but the amount of education and theoretical experience they have is dominant.

Resume writers have been able to put these two styles of resumes together to create the combination style resume. It represents the best features of the functional and the chronological styles. It arranges a bit of education and accomplishments alongside with work experience; which is good for recent grads which have had some work experience. Writers can tailor this type of resume to each individual job which the candidate is applying to; if the positions required skills or experiences are different, than you can change up your skills and experiences that you comprise of.

Steps to Write a Resume

Analyse, Anticipate, Adapt

You see a job advertisement in the paper, the goal is to respond to the advertisement and get an interview (then you can show your true colours). Most likely the reader of your response will see a large number of resumes and will possibly skim over each one of them very quickly; must be persuaded to stay at yours and read on. You have to change your resume to match the job advertisement with specific skills.

Research, Organize, Compose

Look into the company which you are applying to. If possible, it is always a good idea to find the name of the person who may be receiving your resume. You will want to make a list of accomplishments and skills which you have, then select those which match the job advertisement, and the company itself. Then try adapting your current resume to one of the styles listed above.

Revise, Proofread, Evaluate

When describing current work experience, always use present tense verbs. Always use point form, or bullets to describe the experience you had at each experience. Adjust your line spacing to modularize each work experience and education. Always run a spell checker on your resume and make someone else read it over, as a fresh pair of eyes may catch something you missed. Look over your resume; will it be able to impress a recruiter within a couple seconds?