Right Type of Resume for You

When it comes to expressing your credentials, you can choose from several different types of formats to fit the needs of your resume and its intended audience. The three most commonly used styles have their strengths and limitations, and no single setup can effectively serve the unique circumstances and interests of every person. Therefore, an important key to developing a great resume is the selection of the best type for your particular circumstances.

Understanding the differences

Following summarizes the differences between the three main types of resumes.

Chronological Resume

Organizes employment information in a historical format, beginning with your most recent job.
Identifies each position you held by its title, the employer's name and location, and the dates you held it.
Provides a brief description of what you did and your accomplishments in each position.

Functional Resume

Organizes employment information according to your skills and abilities, beginning with your strongest competency.
Describes your level of expertise in each skill by presenting illustrative situations in which you applied the skill successfully on the job.

Hybrid Resume

Includes both a brief chronological summary of your work experience and a description of your functional expertise.
The chronological summary lists the title of each position you held, the employer's name and location, and the dates you worked there.
The functional description illustrates your level of expertise in selected skills and abilities by presenting situations in which you applied them on the job.

In most cases, these differences are most evident in the experience section of your resume. They have little or no impact on the placement and content of your objective, profile, education, or professional affiliations and awards.

Within the experience section, the differences clearly affect the kind of information that you include in the resume, how you present that information, and the priority you give it. Those factors, in turn, give each resume format unique strengths and limitations with regard to its ability to represent a person's credentials effectively. These strengths and limitations are summarized below

Strengths and Limitations of Different Resume Types

Strengths	Limitations
Chronological Resume
Easy to read and understand	Inadequate space to describe skills fully
Emphasizes steady, continuous progression	Spotlights breaks in employment
Recognized and accepted by employers and recruiters	Doesn't describe nontraditional career paths well
Functional Resume
Highlights what you can do and how well you can do it	Lack of an employment history makes it difficult for recruiters to evaluateyou
Enables you to present your qualifications according to your level of expertise	Is difficult to write because you must synthesize your record into skillareas
Effectively describes experience gained via nontraditional career paths	Doesn't describe organizational advancement
Hybrid Resume
Combines most strengths of both other types of resumes	Not enough space to detail your work record or qualifications completely
Clear presentation of your employment history	Unusual format may be uncomfortable for some employers and recruiters
Highlights what you can do and how well you can do it

Selecting the best resume type for you

The characteristics of each resume type and its resulting strengths and limitations make it a more appropriate choice for some individuals than for others. The determining factors are your career path up to the present time and your skill profile. To select the best resume type for you and to learn how to write it, see Table below. The following definitions can help you interpret the information in Table below:

Your career path is said to be uninterrupted if you have had no breaks in employment of more than 30 days. An interrupted career path can be caused by such situations as unemployment, a period at home to raise children, an illness, or time spent pursuing an educational degree.
Your skill profile is technical if your objective involves the continuous development of your expertise in a particular field of knowledge or profession. Otherwise, your skill profile is general or managerial. This table covers everyone in the workforce except first-time job seekers who lack a lengthy work record. If you are looking for your first full-time job, the functional resume is the best format for you. However, you should modify this format to reflect your special strengths. See Chapter 7 for more information on resumes for first-time employment.

Career Path to Date	Skill Profile	Resume Type
Uninterrupted	Technical	Hybrid
Uninterrupted	General or Managerial	Chronological
Interrupted	Technical	Functional
Interrupted	General or Managerial	Functional