Professional Resume Writing
There is a lot involved in creating a professional resume that will turn heads and land you interviews. Did you know that some job openings can generate between 500 and 1,000 resumes? And, recruiters will spend 10-30 seconds reviewing a resume with the primary goal of reducing the piles of resumes they receive each day to a manageable pile of “keepers.” Obviously, there is a lot of competition from other job seekers vying for the same position.
You will need to start writing your resume by deciding on a format. There are essentially 3 different resume formats: the chronological resume, the functional resume, and the combined resume. Each has its advantages and disadvantages which are explained below.
The Chronological Resume Format
The chronological resume format is the most common and the one people are most familiar with. In the chronological format, each of your jobs and corresponding job descriptions are listed in chronological order, starting with your most recent job. The dates of each job are listed on the resume, and it typically includes a career goals section, a skills and attributes section, or a profile section and an education section.
The Functional Resume Format
The functional resume format is not as common and is most often recommended for people who have gaps in their employment history or those who have been out of the workforce for a while. The highlight of this resume format is the candidate’s skills, attributes, and accomplishments. A career goal should also be included, as well as any educational qualifications. However, the actual works do not include the dates. The professional history section will generally be limited to a list of company names, location of each company, and job titles. An advantage of using this format is that it generally shortens the length of a resume. If you have a 25-year work history and multiple jobs where you’ve done many of the same tasks, you can imagine how long (not to mention repetitive) your resume can be. The functional resume format is an effective way to reduce the number of pages an employer will have to read and will make your application more impactful. The downside of this resume format is that recruiters don’t like it. They are suspicious of your work history if no dates are included and may throw it away if it raises too many questions. Although, at one point I used a functional resume because on my chronological resume I had gaps in my work history that I suspected were keeping the phone from ringing with interview requests. I changed the format from chronological to functional and the phone started ringing! So to get the best of both worlds, you may want to try the combined resume if you have gaps in your work history or have been out of the workforce for a while.
The Combined Resume Format
The combined resume, as its name implies, combines the best of the chronological resume and the functional resume. A functional resume format is followed, but dates of employment are included. The employer is primarily interested in knowing what value you can bring to the company, so if your first page (or the first 2/3) of your resume can effectively show what value you bring to the company, then they can be passed off as skip the loopholes in favor of inviting you for an interview.