Resume Styles

The position you are applying for and how it correlates with your current/past job experience, usually prescribes what resume resume style you will use:

  1. The chronological resume is the most popular, preferred and is easiest to decipher. It should provide your education/designations, a current to past listing of your positions (do not go back more than 10 years), employer and dates, and, under each, a summary detail of your responsibilities and accomplishments. You may also choose to add your interests, hobbies and community works, as this may play a role in your getting an interview. Make sure you have continuity with spacing, font and that it contains no spelling or grammatical errors. It should always be accompanied by a cover letter that further highlights why they should interview you.
  2. A functional resume is often utilized when you want to highlight your accomplishments and transferable skills, organizing these thoughts under pertinent headings and/or categories. Then, in a separate area on the resume a very simple listing of your employment history is stated with just dates, company name, and position. A functional resume can be very useful when you are stepping outside your current career path but feel you have the applied skill needed. You need to ensure that your accomplishments are quantitative and qualitative, demonstrating the result of that effort. IE: Developed an employee engagement initiative that had a direct result in reducing staff turn-over from 10% per annum to 3% per annum and reducing recruitment costs by $500,000 in year 1.
  3. A CV or Curriculum Vitae is a longer and more detailed version of a resume, often delving much further into your education, published papers and affiliations. It is quite common in the academic, scientific, research, and consulting world.