Choosing The Best Resume Format For You

By Staff Reporter | Oct 15, 2015 09:11 AM EDT

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To strengthen your edge amid job market competition, it's crucial to choose a resume format that will work best based on your work background and experience. As stated by AboutCareers, not all resume formats can help you get hired. Understand that some format may work better than others at targeting your work history and particular abilities.

Here are the three types of resume with their description to help you decide what to use:

Reverse Chronological

Considered as the most common format and easiest to write, this resume is loved by most employers. This format is best especially if you have very strong work history or if you are climbing your way up for a promotion under the same industry. This is also great for those who have been so loyal in a company for so long and wanted to have a new company to work with, RWD noted.

Sections for reverse chronological are as follows:

  • Contact Information
  • Resume Introduction
  • Professional Experience
  • Education Section
  • Additional Skills
  • Awards/Honors/Certifications

Functional

This resume format is best if you've been away from work for a while or have only little or limited experience for the job. This format targets more on your achievements, what you can do and your core competence. Mostly used by graduates, but most disliked resume format by employers. So don't use this one if you don't have to, a reminder from UndercoverRecruiter.

Sections for functional are as follows:

  • Contact Information
  • Qualifications Summary or Professional Profile
  • Additional Skills
  • Professional Experience
  • Education Section

Combined

A combination of functional and chronological format, this format is useful to those who are planning to switch careers and to seniors who already has longer career histories. This format can also be a big help to people who wants to learn more skills by exploring other work experience.

Sections for combined are as follows:

  • Contact Information
  • Qualifications Summary or Professional Profile
  • Additional Skills
  • Professional Experience
  • Education Section
  • Awards/Honors/Certifications

When choosing the best format for your resume, don't forget to make your decision based on your working experience and career level. You can never go wrong with the right resume format for your job hunt.

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