There are two types of resumes, chronological and functional. A chronological is probably the most common type of resume and it typically works best for someone who has had regular employment. It highlights work experience in chronological order. A functional resume, as you may have guessed, works best for someone who has a major gap in employment or who may be changing careers. It highlights skills, capabilities, and all things from a functional perspective with minimal or no work experience. I will be focusing on the chronological format since it is the most common and typically preferred.
First, let’s cover some basic resume tips:
- Everything you write should be precise and clear.
- Avoid paragraphs and use bullet points.
- Write in the first person but do not use personal pronouns like “I”, “me”, or “my”.
- Use no more than two pages for the resume. That is the general rule, BUT there are many hiring managers out there who say that they will not look at a resume that has more than one page. So, only use the second page if you have extensive relative work experience to justify the second page.
- Try to have as much white space as possible. It’s is visually more appealing and looks less cluttered.
- Choose 10-12 point font and choose standard fonts like Times Roman or Arial.
- Avoid italics because sometimes italics does not scan well, i.e. if you resume gets faxed. Use bold for headers and avoid underlining.
- Use standard 8x11” paper and margins should be between 1/2” and 1”.
- I want to stress that this is a big one. Tailor your resume to fit the company and position you are pursuing and be sure to include keywords from the job listing where applicable. Not only does this make you a more attractive candidate when a hiring manager actually REVIEWS your resume, but it also increase your chances of getting your resume or application to pass the filters used to screen online submissions.
These are the basic sections of a resume and in the order that they should appear:
- Contact Information
- Profile, Focus Statement (replacing the outdated Career Objective)
- Skills and Qualifications
- Professional Experience
- Education
- Awards, Certificates, Professional and Community Affiliations
***Please note that Skills and Qualifications can come after Professional Experience IF your work history is more impressive. This would be a strategic move for someone who has worked for many years or extensively in the same field as position he or she is seeking. Depending on how many resumes the reviewer gets regularly, you may have just a few seconds to impress. You want to capture the reviewer’s attention as quickly as possible or your resume may gets tossed aside.
CONTACT INFORMATION
It is important that your information is current and that you provide numbers and emails that you answer or check regularly. There isn’t a specific format that is preferred as far as I can tell. Just be sure that it looks clean, is aligned, and includes the following:
- Full first and last name, middle initial optional
- This should be in bold and a couple font sizes bigger than the body of your resume.
- Mailing address
- Home or mobile number
- Be sure to have an appropriate voicemail greeting.
- Use the term “Mobile” for your wireless number.
- Professional e-mall address
- I have found some places where hiring managers said that they will dismiss a resume if the e-mail address contains numbers. Try to get an email with this format name.lastname@provider.com. Try different providers or adding your middle initial, if necessary.
***Include your name and Page 2 if there is a second page to your resume.
PROFILE
The profile should summarize your resume and identify the position you are looking for or what you want to do. This should be no more than a few sentences and bullet points should be used. A focus statement can be used instead of a profile. It identifies first the Target Job Title and then a few relevant skills are listed underneath in a single line, centered.
SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS
In this section you should only highlight the skills that are relevant and those that qualify you for the position you are seeking. In other words, do NOT list every skill you have. Refer to the job listing to understand what skills the company is looking for and be sure to include those IF you have working knowledge about them. Then, prioritize the skills in order of relevance.
PROFESSIONAL WORK EXPERIENCE
In this section, you will list the work experience you have that is relevant to your objective and also your current position if you are employed. If you have not worked for many companies that are relevant, you can describe the work experience of the different roles you had within one company or even the major projects that you worked on.
The work experience should start with the following:
Company Name, City, State (left aligned)
Job Title
Job Title
Include:
- A brief summary of your main responsibilities in the company.
- Accomplishments from this job, quantify as much possible.
- The dates that you held the position should be on the same line as the company name, right aligned. You can use Month Year to Month Year/Present.
- Start with action words. If the job is current, use present tense. For previous jobs, use past.
EDUCATION
In this section you should start with:
School Name - City, State
Then, include the major field of study for degrees earned. It is not necessary to include the graduation year if it was completed more than a few years ago. However, include “in progress” if you are working on a degree or “anticipated graduation date mm/yyyy” if you are nearing your graduation date. The date should be aligned with the dates in your work history.
School Name - City, State
Then, include the major field of study for degrees earned. It is not necessary to include the graduation year if it was completed more than a few years ago. However, include “in progress” if you are working on a degree or “anticipated graduation date mm/yyyy” if you are nearing your graduation date. The date should be aligned with the dates in your work history.
AWARDS, CERTIFICATES, PROFESSIONAL AND COMMUNITY AFFILIATIONS
If it not necessary to list all your awards, activities, or affiliations. Remember to be relevant in type and time. Use your best judgement call on what headings you should use by deciding which are most important for the job you are seeking. Languages are a good item to use here (title as OTHER LANGUAGES) and even community service.
Finally, do not put on your resume that references are available upon request. This is assumed and it is not necessary to waste space on your resume to say this. Always have your references ready at an interview or easily available when requested.
I hope this brief write up helps you in your job search. Good luck!