The objective of formatting a resume is to create the best first impact on the employers. This reason is why people focus on the layout and structure of the resume more than anything. This step is essential to garnering the professional attention of the prospective employer to showcase any experience and skills the candidate has for securing the job. However, writing a clean and concise resume may be a challenging task, especially for freshers or people who are not experienced. Here is a simple read-through guide to help you choose the best layout for your resume. For getting high-quality ATS optimised resumes written by professionals, contact us at the MyCVwriting.com website.
The Available Types of Resume formats
Three types of resume formats are there made popular by job candidates worldwide. These Formats are:
- Chronological Format
- Functional Format
- Combination Format
Chronological Format in resume writing:
A chronological resume, as the name suggests, lists all the work experience of the candidate in reverse chronological order. This counter-intuitive chronological order is chosen for its effective way of highlighting the most recent job position of any candidate. This is important as the employers will exactly know which job experience is the most relevant for the candidate at the given time of recruitment.
This traditional type of resume gets mostly followed for its simplicity. Technically a chronologically formatted resume contains information in the given order:
- Contact Information
- Objective Statement
- Professional Experience
- Relevant Skills of the candidate
- Educational Background
- Additional Information (Relevant pieces of information only)
Should you go Chronological?
Yes: Depending on many factors, you may or may not want to opt for the chronological resume format. If you have a consistent history of employment that shows an advancing career path, this type of resume is will best showcase your value to the employer. If you have the required expertise in the industry, chronological formatting will be the best way of showcasing your talents and achievements.
No: However, if your employment history is not as robust or contains employment gaps, where your experience is heavily diversified among fields, you may need to go for another formatting style.
The bottom line is, use chronological format if you have,
- Consistent employment history
- Your previous experiences/jobs are related to a particular field and not much diversified
This type of resume is suitable for professionals who want to change their organisation.
Functional Format in resume writing:
Contrary to the chronological format, a functional resume focuses on relevant skills and doesn’t emphasise the work history much. Unlike the chronological format which highlights detailed work summaries and achievements, the functional format showcases the skill sets required for the specific job. Often, we see the functional format includes a section for relevant projects done by the candidate which shows the eagerness of the aspirant to do a certain kind of job. This is an extra layer of assurance for the employers.
Let us see the general format of the information order:
- Contact information
- Objective summary
- Summary of relevant skills
- Projects and Publications
- Work experience
- Educational Background
- Additional Information (like special interests, any volunteer work etc)
Who is the functional format for?
Yes: For those who have multiple employment gaps in their history, or just starting their careers with little to no experience, the functional format helps them with the best possibility of showcasing their skills. Also, one may want to use this format if they are shifting from a specific industry to a different one and doesn’t have relevant work experience in the new field. The functional format also gets followed by those who had a long break and are trying to re-enter the workforce.
No: Do not use a functional resume if this format is too limiting and abstracting your potential. If you don’t have major work experience but have done small internships or have minor experience in small enterprises, you can easily include them in the resume. However, in this case, you need to know the next kind of format, ie. combination format.
This type of format is generally used among freshers with little experience and students to get internships and earn new experience.
Combination Format of resume writing:
Combination Format, as you may have already guessed, is a hybrid format that blends the chronological format and the functional formats together.
This resume format is a powerful and unique way of including information for the candidate that shares the best of both formats. A combinational Format for a resume is very flexible where you can add new sections and eliminate any optional section as per your requirement.
A combination format emphasises both the experience and skills by following this specific order of information:
- Contact information
- Objective statement or summary
- Work Experience
- Projects done
- The summary of most relevant skills
- Educational background
The combination format is getting popular day by day for its ability to organise elements in structural panels that are visually pleasing. Modern-day job candidates are using this layout more and more as they can build visually appealing documents using digital tools.
Combination format and why should it be your prefered option?
Yes: If you require a flexible and modular format to fit in all your information, the combination format must be your option. Have many unique skills that are specifically valuable to the industry in which you are applying for a job? You can write them before enlisting your work experience to give a better emphasis on the skills.
No: You can skip this format if the firm needs you to follow a strict format like chronological. Otherwise, this format has the potential to land a job. Also, be careful about information overload in the resume. If it is getting longer, avoid this layout and stick to the previous one’s.
A great resume can capture the right attention and be a great vehicle for landing the job. To get it all right, seek professional help to make a winning resume for yourself which showcases all the skills you have and secures your job in your dream company. Visit the MyCVwriting.com website to hire us today.
