Resumes are produced in one of three distinct formats: chronological, functional or hybrid. Each has its own unique characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages; which is best for you will depend entirely on your current career goals.

Chronological resumes

• Most commonly used resume format.

• Simplest to create.

• Ideal if want the emphasis to be on the strength of your work experience.

• Works best if you’ve followed a logical progression from one job to the next, with no serious detours or lengthy gaps in between.

• Tip 1: Always start with your current or most recent position and then working backwards.

• Tip 2: Recruiters and Human Resource Professionals often prefer chronological resumes because they are systematic, easy to follow, and easy to interpret.

Functional resumes

• The emphasis is on skills, qualifications and accomplishments rather than on your chronological work history.

• Best used when you are changing careers and want to highlight your transferable skills – those skills that can easily transfer from one industry to another, or from one position to another.

• Best used when your most recent job is not the most relevant to the position you are targeting. This format allows you to emphasize skills and accomplishments from a position you held years ago.

• Best used also when you’re at stay-at-home mom who’s ready to return to work. This format allows you to highlight skills from your previous work experience, your volunteer activities, and your education.

• Also works best if you’re older (55+ years) and want to de-emphasize your age, while focusing on your skills and qualifications that are most related to your current career objectives.

• The structure of this format consists of three distinct sections:

1) Summary: the longest and most detailed section in the resume; used to highlight your skills, experiences, qualifications, and accomplishments as they relate to your current career goals.

2) Work experience: very brief; generally only a listing with no detailed information.

3) Education.

• Tip 1: With great skills and accomplishments that meet the employer’s needs, and follow that with a brief but complete work history, the functional resume can be very effective in grabbing attention and getting interviews.

Hybrid Resumes

• Gives you the advantages of both chronological and the functional formats.

• Offers the best of both worlds, allowing you to highlight your notable work history along with your core skills, competencies, and qualifications.

• They are excellent format if you’re looking for a position similar to the one you hold now, or held most recently or when you’re looking to advance within your established career track.

• The structure of the hybrid resume consists of three distinct sections:-

1) Summary: a high-impact summary of your most notable skills and competencies as they relate to your current career objective.

2) Work experience: detailed, with an emphasis on key responsibilities and notable achievements.

3) Education.

The hybrid format is currently the resume style preferred by most recruiters and human resource professionals. Someone can read the summary section of your resume and quickly understand what you offer to an employer. That information is then immediately followed by strong presentation of your work experience, which should clearly support the skills and qualifications you’ve highlighted in your summary section.

In essence, you’re stating, “This is what I do best” (summary) and “This is the proof I know how to do it” (experience). If you can accomplish this with your hybrid resume, you will definitely have made the recruiter’s or human resource professional’s job much easier in identifying you as a quality candidate.

Source Enelow, Wendy & Boldt, Arnold No-Nonsense Resumes, 25-31. Career Press, 2006