Resume Format
Chronological
Chronological resumes are preferred. They are preferred in
situations where you want to emphasize your recent employers, where
you may have held impressive job titles, where you want to emphasize
the progress you have made in your career, when you are not changing
careers, or when the field you are entering favors the chronological
resume.
You may want to avoid the chronological resume when you want to
play down your age, when you may have been absent from the job
market for an extended period of time, if you have or if you have
changed employers frequently.
Functional
The functional resume stresses specific qualifications required
by a certain occupation rather than the order in which skills are
developed, jobs held, or classes taken. Though not usually
preferred, the functional resume works well when you want to
emphasize capabilities you have but which you have not been able to
use in your current employment. It is also effective if you want to
emphasize personal qualities relevant to a job, or if you new to the
job market and do not have a history or when your advancement in the
job market has not been continuous or you have a variety of work
experiences unrelated to the job you are applying from. If you are
re-entering the job market after a length absence, you may find the
functional resume helpful or if your work has been of a temporary or
free lance nature.
Avoid the functional resume when you need to emphasize your
career growth or you need to emphasize your prior employers or work
history.
Contents of a resume
Resumes include (often in this order):
- Contact information
- Objective Statement
- Educational experience
- Previous work experience (dates, employers, position,
responsibilities, achievements)
- Other qualifying activities, workshops, special skills,
additional training, awards
- Volunteer or community work
- Basic personal /contact information
- References section (optional)
Resumes do not include personal information about age, health,
ethnicity, marital status, or non-position related information
Suggestions for developing a resume:
- Research prospective employers to see what they want.
- Start with what best highlights your qualities (if education is
your strongest suit, that first)
- Avoid "cute" unless cute is appropriate
- Confine resume to one page; vitae may be multiple pages
- Check with employers HR offices to see if resumes need to be in
a special format.
- Make resume "visually helpful."
- Write clearly using correct grammar/mechanics
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