Résumé Guidelines Part Four – Types

There are three basic types of résumés:

  • Chronological: focuses on the progression of jobs and assignments over time; good for most workers
  • Functional: focuses on skill groupings; good for first-time workers and career changers
  • Combination: combines the two other types

The Chronological Résumé

·         Organize jobs in reverse chronological order:

·         Name of Company or Organization and Location (City, ST). Do not include supervisor's name or employer's street address or telephone number.

·         Job Title

·         Dates, beginning and ending (October 2001 – October 2003). If still employed enter the word Present as the ending timeframe.

·         In Bullet format, tell how you contributed to or what you accomplished on the job

·         Indicate the level of responsibility you were entrusted with (e.g., depositing cash or managing department during absence of supervisor)

·         If appropriate provide evidence of your having been promoted

·         Begin each entry with an action verb, listing accomplishments, tasks performed, skills developed, or, if appropriate, specialties learned (see action word list)

·         The amount of specific detail will be determined by the relevance to the job you are applying for 

·         Write in the past tense for former positions and present tense for current positions

·         If your work is not directly related, emphasize transferable skills (e.g., if you worked as a server and now want to work in an administrative role, use points such as ability to work under pressure/stress, communicative/interpersonal skills, attention to detail, etc. when describing the server position)

·         Do not use personal pronouns, such as "my", "their", or definite and indefinite articles, such as "a", "an", "the"

·         Prioritize the points when you are describing your work as they relate to your job objective

·         For jobs you want to include but not in detail, add a sub-section at the end of Work Experience called Other Work Experience (dates if you wish, e.g., 20__ - __) with job titles, or job titles and type of work environment if helpful (e.g., camp counsellor, waiter in fast-paced truck stop, stock clerk in automotive store)

·         If you started/ran your own business, refer to it by its proper name and your official title.  For example, if you are Roni Smith, you could write:

·         Owner/Manager, ABC Window Cleaning

·         Destin, FL or

·         Proprietor, Roni Smith, Destin, FL

·         Residential Window Cleaning Service

 

Functional Resume

·         A Functional format may be useful for individuals who have:

·         Little or no related experience, but do have relevant qualifications for the job

·         Relevant experience but these positions would be lost among the other jobs in a Chronological resume

·         A number of similar work experiences which would require repeating the same points under several job listings

·         So much material to say that it would take over three pages to do it

·         It is essential that you have a good Chronological resume from which to work as it is difficult to think creatively and evaluate the information at the same time

·         Identify three to six major skill areas related to your objective (e.g., Supervision, Organization, Program Planning, Statistical Analysis, Report Writing, Scheduling, Managing, Teaching, Research, etc.); be consistent—use either all nouns or all adjectives

·         Make sure there is no overlap in meaning when selecting the names for your skill sections

·         Take each bullet point in your Chronological resume and include it under one of the skill headings you created; ensure that each point starts with an appropriate action verb

·         Try to combine bullet points whenever possible to make clear, concise entries - the number of points for each function/skill ranges from three to seven

·         In formulating the bullet points for each qualification, you can use academics (projects, papers, etc.), extracurricular activities, and volunteer work as long as the reader knows the setting and does not think you have done the work in one of your paid positions

  • The Work History section comprises, in reverse chronological order, a listing of your employment: Job title, Company/Organization, Location, Date - there are no job description details in this section

Combination Resume

·         The difference between this type of resume and the Chronological one is the section on work experience

·         It enables you to feature related experience, or to move to the top of the section those jobs which would ordinarily be listed after less relevant ones

·         Replace the words ‘Work Experience? with a description about the type of experience (e.g., Research Experience, Business Experience)

·         Collect in one section all jobs of similar type and list them in reverse chronological order

  • Be sure that the theme word you use to describe each Experience section is descriptive of aspects of the job you stated in your objective

The Final Step - Proofreading

Before you give your resume to any potential employer, have at least one other person proofread your copy. It is important to pay attention to the following points:

·         Appearance - At first glance, will the employer find the resume attractive and want to read it (paper weight/color, layout of sections/points/margins, font size/style, unfolded, no corrections in handwriting, etc.)?

·         Accomplishments - Does the document present your qualifications from both theoretical and practical perspectives regarding education, skills, experience, personality, etc.?

·         Writing/Presentation - Is every word necessary to determine the meaning of the point? Is the point relevant to the job you are applying to? Does the writing style clearly and completely convey what you want the reader to know? Are your words precise and action-oriented? Are there any spelling, typographical or grammatical errors?

·         Sales Appeal - Have you told the employer in a positive, interesting way what you can do for their organization, and given sufficient proof of expertise that the employer will want to meet you personally in an interview?

·         Personal Identification - Do you have your name, street/e-mail addresses, and voice/fax numbers on the top of each page so that an employer can easily reach you?