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Effective
resumes offer strong content delivered in
an attractive and logically organized format.
The two most popular formatting styles are
chronological and functional. Keep in mind
that regardless of which style you choose,
your resume should be organized in a manner
that highlights your most important strengths
early in the resume in order to capture attention
quickly.
Chronological
This style presents
education and experience in reverse chronological
order (from most recent backwards) and gives
attention to titles, organizations, and dates
as well as a description of the experience.
It is the style that most employers prefer,
and is appropriate for new college graduates
or others whose background is consistent with
their career objective. The chronological
style may not be as effective for individuals
who are changing career focus, who have a
sporadic work history, or have changed employers
frequently while staying in the same field.
Functional
The functional style
organizes skills and accomplishments in functional
categories regardless of when or where they
were demonstrated. This style focuses on the
transferability of skills rather than on where
they were developed. It is highly effective
for individuals who have a variety of diverse
experiences that are difficult to communicate
in a chronological fashion. It is less effective
for individuals whose accomplishments are
unclear or who want to demonstrate professional
growth in a field.
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TIPS!
- Resume
templates are gaining popularity and
can be very helpful to those creating
a resume for the first time. Keep
in mind, nonetheless, that a template
restricts your freedom to format your
resume and organize your data to suit
your unique situation. Most employers
favor original resumes over resume
templates.
- Write
your resume in the first person singular,
active voice, omitting the word “I”
as it is understood as the subject.
Apply parallel grammatical structures
and consistent verb tenses.
- Use
present tense for current information
and past tense for past accomplishments
or experiences. Avoid spelling errors.
- Give
more space to information that is
directly related to your objective
and make statements specific and concise.
- Abbreviations
and acronyms should be avoided except
for state and degree abbreviations.
- Include
accomplishments as well as job duties
in your experience descriptions. Employers
like to know what results you are
capable of achieving when doing a
job.
- Be
sure to back all claims of strengths
you make. For example, if you claim
to have excellent writing skills,
back that claim with a specific factual
example in some part of the resume.
- Decorative
typefaces and graphics usually detract
from the resume. Keep your font simple
and the size consistent throughout
the resume. Using capitalization and
boldface make the typeface look larger
and would be appropriate for your
name and category headings.
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