by Deborah Walker, CCMC

Whether you are a new college graduate, a seasoned executive or career changer, your resume is a vital tool in opening doors of employment opportunity. If your resume isn't generating interviews for you, you might be using a less-than-effective resume format.

In today's electronic job market, the term "resume format" has two meanings:

The electronic version of your resume (.doc, .txt or PDF)
How the resume content is arranged on the page(s)

This article deals with the second meaning, how the textual content is arranged within the document of your resume. Basically, there are three standard resume formats:

Reverse Chronological
Functional
Hybrid

Once you understand which format best supports your career objective, you'll know which format will be most effective for you.

The Reverse Chronological Resume Format

The reverse chronological format is the best known format and is one of the easiest to write. It follows the reverse historical outline of your work experience.

Its strengths are:

Allows the reader to quickly identify the "what" "where" and "when" of your work experience
Shows effectively the progression of responsibilities through your chosen industry or profession

Its weaknesses are:

Does not promote your ability to move into a new industry or occupation
Hides early accomplishments at the end of your resume
Highlights employment instability
Highlights gaps in employment

The Functional Resume Format

In response to the shortcomings of the chronological format, the functional resume format was developed. This format focuses on clustering information around categories of transferable skills and minimizing the historical aspect of your work experience.

Its strengths are:

Highlights transferable skills, which promotes career changes between industries or occupations
Minimizes unfavorable aspects of job history, such as employment instability and employment gaps
Highlights the best accomplishments at the beginning of the resume regardless of when they took place in your career history

Its weaknesses are:

Is not a popular format among recruiters and HR candidate screeners
Makes it difficult to connect accomplishments to employment history
Doesn't promote steady career growth within a given industry or occupation
The functional format should be used with caution. If not carefully crafted, the resume can be confusing and cause the reader to believe the candidate has something to hide.

The Hybrid Resume Format

A solution to the sometimes confusing functional format and the often limiting reverse chronological format is the hybrid format, which combines the best of both.

Its strengths are:

Showcases transferable skills and accomplishments at the top of the resume for maximum first-impression impact
Receives high approval from recruiters and HR candidate screeners for ease of reading
Displays a clear bottom-line impact approach, which is appreciated by executive hiring managers
Promotes the ability to transfer between industries or occupations

Its weakness:

Is challenging to write effectively

While the hybrid resume format is certainly the best format for job seekers of all levels, it is also the most difficult to write. It requires the ability to identify and illustrate transferable skills with strong accomplishments that demonstrate bottom-line impact to organizational objectives.

While competition for the best jobs remains high, give your resume a boost by presenting your work experiences in the format that best promotes your career objective. Re-thinking-and revising-your resume can lead you to new job opportunities and get you hired.

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Deborah Walker, CCMC
Resume Writer ~ Career Coach .. see www.AlphaAdvantage.com
Email her at Deb@AlphaAdvantage.com ; Toll-free phone: 888-828-0814