How to Pick the Right Resume Format?

There are three types of resume formats: reverse chronological, functional or skills-based, and a combination of the two. The choice depends on the type of job you are applying for and your level of experience.

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1) Reverse chronological resume format – This is the most popular resume format and is ideal for people with a lot of work experience relevant to the position they are interested in.

2) Functional / skills-based resume format – If you do not have relevant work experience because you are a student / recent graduate or are considering a career change, the skills-based format is the better choice.

3) Combination resume format – The combination resume is a great choice for job seekers with a wide range of skills. It is useful if you are applying for a role that requires expertise in 3-4 different fields and you want to show all this on your resume. For example, let’s say you are applying for a senior management role and the requirements are Management, Sales and Software Development specialization.

So which one do you prefer?

In over 90% of cases, you want to stick to the reverse chronological resume format. This is the most common and most HR managers are used to it. Therefore, we will focus on this particular format in this guide.

If you have just graduated or have varied skills and work experience, you may want to choose one of the other 2 formats. Check out our guide to resuming formats to learn how to write both.

What is the Best Resume Layout?

• The first thing a job finder notices about any resume is the layout.
• Does it look tidy or messy? Is it too short or too long? Is it boring and easy to ignore, or “Read me!” Is he yelling?
• Some of the best practices when it comes to your resume layout include:

Contact Information

The most critical part of your resume is “contact information”. Even if you do everything right, you can’t go too far if the HR manager can’t contact you because you misspelled your email.

Make sure you double-check or even triple-check the contact details section and everything is correct and up to date.

Clean? Good! Let’s examine what a successful example of the communications section looks like:

Resume Summary or Objective

It is no secret to anyone that first impressions matter, whether in your personal life or career.

If you make a bad first impression, it will likely stay there. After all, it’s very difficult to change someone’s mind about you.

The same applies to your job search – HR manager will spend around 6 seconds scanning each resume. Yes, your carefully written, handcrafted resume takes attention in just 6 seconds. Unless you make a great first impression, of course.

The way to achieve this is either a good resume summary or a goal. Both are located at the top of your resume, right next to the contact information section:

So, here’s what you need to know about the two:

What’s a Resume Summary & When to Use it

The resume summary is a 2-3 sentence summary of your career. Unless you are a recent college graduate or change your career, you should basically use a resume summary in any case (in this case, you would use a resume goal. More on that later!).

In your resume summary you must indicate:

1. Your job and years of experience. For example: Customer support representative with more than 5 years of experience in the IT industry.
2. 1 or 2 best achievements (or basic responsibilities). For example: Expert in technical support, customer service and user retention.
3. The desired goal (usually the passion to work for a particular company). For example: Seeking new opportunities as a support leader for a SaaS company.

And here’s how the resume summary looks on a resume:

What’s a Resume Objective & When to Use it

The resume goal is, in summary, the goal of your resume. It conveys your motivation to enter a new field. As with the resume summary, the CV goal should be around 2-3 sentences.

As we mentioned earlier, the resume goal is a must-go goal for anyone with no work experience or a career change.

Work Experience

• The most important part of your resume is your work experience.
• This is where you really sell yourself, showcase your past achievements and responsibilities.
• If you manage to master this chapter alone, you will know more than 80% of what you need to know about how to create a resume.
• There are many best practices for writing your work experience. Before we dive into all the vinegars and grits, let’s start with the basics …
• How to List Work Experience in a Resume

The standard format for your work experience is as follows:

• Job Title / Position – Your job title is located at the top of each work experience entry. When the HR manager scans your resume, you want them to know at a glance that you have job-related work experience.
• Company Name / Location / Description – Next, specify the name of the relevant employer and the location of the office where you work / work. In some cases, you may want to briefly describe the company if it is an organization. not a famous household name.
• Achievements and Responsibilities – This is the core of every work experience entry. Depending on your field, you want to list your achievements or responsibilities. We will explain more about how and why this happened.
• Employed Dates – Your working time at each company. Not sure of the exact dates you worked somewhere? Don’t worry, you don’t have to be accurate day by day as long as it’s close. The standard format expected by employers and employers is mm / yyyy (this is especially important when your job application will be parsed by an Application Tracking System).

Here’s a real-life example:

As you can see, work experience lists should be listed in reverse chronological order – starting with the most recent job and going back to the past.

Now that you know how to list your experience, we’re going to talk about how to write about your experience to stand out from the competition.

Are you a student with no work experience? We’ve got you covered. Check out our guide to writing an internship resume here.

List Achievements When Possible

One of the most common resume mistakes is to list only responsibilities in your work experience section.

The thing is, in most cases the hiring manager knows exactly what your responsibilities are. For example, let’s say you are a sales manager. Your responsibilities will be:

• Reach potential customers by phone or e-mail.
• Maintain relationships with existing company customers and increase sales of related products.
• Tracking and reporting leads in CRM.

Coincidentally, this is exactly the same list of responsibilities for every sales manager. 90% of all other resumes probably talk about pretty much the same thing.

So, to stand out, you want to focus on talking about achievements in your resume instead. Or, in simple terms, the company grows, reaches quarterly quotas, etc. How exactly you helped.

However, keep in mind that there aren’t many achievements you can mention in some areas. Let’s say you work in a warehouse. Your daily responsibilities likely include:

• Loading, unloading and setting up equipment on a daily basis.
• Pack the finished product and prepare it for shipping.
• Help open and close the warehouse.

It is quite difficult to distinguish yourself in these types of areas, so instead sticking to responsibilities is completely okay.

Adapt Your Resume to the Job

Did you know that more than 70% of resumes posted on job postings are never read?

Yes, Application Tracking Systems (ATS) prevent your resume from being read by HR. ATS (for resume) is software that helps companies filter the hundreds of resumes they take every day.

You’re probably wondering, “What does it give?! If a robot can just say” No “and eliminate all the effort you put into it, what’s the point of perfecting your resume?”

Well, don’t worry – it’s not hard to get past the Application Tracking System as long as you know how.

The key is to tailor your resume to each job you apply for. To do this, you must specify the correct keywords from the job posting on your resume.

So let’s consider a simple example of how to do this. Let’s say after reading the job post below for a digital marketer’s position, you discover that the most critical requirements for the business are:

• More than 5 years of experience in online marketing
• Social media marketing experience with good Facebook advertising knowledge
• B.A. In Marketing or Business Administration
• Experience to manage a monthly advertising budget of 20,000 USD on Facebook

Now, to adapt your resume to these requirements, simply mention each of them in your resume, taking into account that you have the relevant achievements and qualifications!

How much work experience do you include in your resume? 

If you have more than ten years of work experience, you are probably confused about how much you mention on your resume. After all, if you need to list everything you’ve done so far, you’ll end up writing a mini-novel.

Or, on the other hand, if you are new to the job market, you probably have NO experience and wonder what you can talk about.

Here’s how much information you will provide in your resume, depending on your level of experience:

nce:

• Job hunters with no experience – If you don’t have any experience it can be a little difficult to complete the work experience section.
• You can either leave it blank and focus on all other departments, or you can work in student organizations, non-profit organizations, etc. You can fill it with work experience.
• Entry-level candidates – List all the work you’ve done so far.
• Intermediate professionals – Mention ONLY work experience relevant to the position you are applying for.
• Senior professionals – up to 15 years relevant work experience MAX. If your last experience is a CEO, no one cares how you started your career as a cashier in your teenage years.

How to List Education on Your Resume

The next part we will cover is Your Education. Let’s start with the basics – how to format the training section and what to talk about there. Next, we’ll move on to tips and tricks to help you stand out.

• Program Name. E.g.: “B.A. in Business Administration”
• University Name. E.g.: “New York State University”
• Years Attended. E.g.: “08/2008 – 06/2012”
• (Optional) GPA. E.g.: “3.9 GPA”
• (Optional) Honors. E.g.: Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude, Summa Cum Laude.
• (Optional) Academic achievements. Any interesting papers you’ve written, courses you’ve excelled in, etc.
• (Optional) Minor. “Minor in Psychology”

Here’s an example:

Emphasize Your Know-How with the Skills Section

Another part that should be in your resume is the “Skills” section. Here you want to mention all your knowledge that makes you the perfect candidate for the job.

1. There are 2 types of skills you can include when writing your CV:
2. Hard Skills (Measurable abilities). This can be anything from coding in Python to knowing how to cook Thai cuisine.
3. Soft Skills (Personal skills). These are a mix of social skills, communication skills, personal traits, career qualities, and the like. Leadership, critical thinking, management and communication, just to name a few.
4. A good resume should cover both.
5. How To List The Skills On Your CV?
6. When talking about skills in your resume, there are 3 basic steps you should follow:
7. Step # 1 – List Difficult Skills by Experience Levels. For each hard skill you list, you want to indicate your level of proficiency:

As a general rule, you can divide them as follows:

Beginner – You have some experience with this skill, whether from entry-level practice or classroom training.

Medium – You have used the skill in a work environment with good understanding.

Advanced – You are the go-to for skills in your office. You can coach other employees and have a high understanding of the skill.

Expert – You have applied this skill in more than a handful of different projects and organizations. You are your go-to for advice on skills, not only in your office but even among some of the best professionals in your field.

Make sure you NEVER lie about your skill levels. Otherwise, it will be rather odd for both you and your employer.

Imagine your first task working as an Illustrator – creating a graphic vector compatible with an article. If you hand in a hastily drawn stick figure colored with a paint bucket tool in Microsoft Paint, you’ll be fired before your trial period ends.

Step # 2 – Bring Your Skills to the Job. You may have some super rare, great skills, but these will not always be useful. For example, knowing accounting is great, but would you really need it as a line cook in your new job? Absolutely!

Take a look at the job posting and list the 2-3 essential skills required for the job.

As you can see, the must-have skills here are Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Keynote, and Pages. Good thing to have WordPress. You can also mention Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Outlook, but since they are essential for most office work, it is assumed you know how to use them.

If you are qualified, be sure to include all skills relevant to the relevant qualification levels in your “Skills” section.

Step # 3 – Include Some Universal Skills – “Universal Skills” are skills that are useful for almost any job. These are both soft skills (leadership, teamwork, critical thinking, etc.) and hard skills (Excel, Powerpoint, Photoshop, writing, etc.). No matter what job you’re applying for, these skills will likely work somehow, so feel free to include them even if they’re not specifically required for the position.

Not sure what skills to talk about for your field? Putting it on any resume can be one of these 100+ essential skills!

Other Important Sections

The sections we have covered so far are indispensable for any resume. These are bread and butter for any job application, and if you do them right, you’ll get into any job you’re applying for.

But the sections below can really give you a boost here and there.

Languages

Are you bilingual Or better, multilingual? You should ALWAYS state this on your resume!

Even if the location doesn’t require you to know a particular language, it can still come in handy at some point. At the end of the day, it’s always better to know fewer languages.

To list the languages on your CV, write them down and assign them the appropriate level:

• Native
• Fluent
• Proficient (Enough knowledge to pass by in a professional environment)
• Intermediate
• Basic

As given, you should never lie about your language skills. You never know, your interviewer can be fluent in the language, even a native speaker!

Hobbies & Interests

Would you like to add some spice to your resume? The hobbies and interests section can help show who you are as an individual, although it doesn’t change the rules of the game. Who knows, maybe you and the person you’re interviewing have some common hobbies?

If you find extra space in your resume, don’t be afraid to show off your personality with the hobbies / interests section.

Volunteering Experience

If you are a person who will use your free time to help others and expect nothing in return, you are probably an employee who wants more than money. It leaves the impression that you are a loyal and loyal employee.

Several studies show that you can increase your chances of being hired simply by listing your volunteer experience. This is especially true if you are a student with almost no work experience.

Certifications & Awards

Do you have any awards that make you stand out in your field? What about the certificates from industry experts?

In any case, feel free to include it in your resume as long as it is relevant to the position you are applying for.

Let’s say you are a Microsoft Cloud Engineer. Assuming you specialize in Microsoft Technologies, you would definitely want to include all the core certifications such as Azure Solutions Architect Specialist.

Publications 

Are you a freelance writer? Maybe a distinguished academic?

If you have any published works (online or in an academic journal), you may want to include them in your resume. Make sure you add a URL so HR knows where to check your work!

Projects

Working on side projects can really show your passion for your field. Whether it’s college-grade projects or part-time entrepreneurial endeavors, both are equally relevant.

Let’s say you worked on a fake software product as part of a competition at the university. You’ve gone through every step of product creation, from idea to marketing strategy.

You can mention the project on your resume and you have a better chance of getting that business internship!

Or, on the other hand, you run an Etsy store that sells handmade artworks online to customers. Tell them all!

Recruiting managers love employees who do cool work in their spare time.

How to Write a Convincing Cover Letter

Each job application consists of 2 parts – a resume and a cover letter. Now that we have covered the first one, let’s briefly explain the second one.

Many job seekers are startled when they hear that they need to write a cover letter. What are you talking about in a cover letter anyway? If you are good at writing cover letters, you would apply for a writing job!

In reality, writing a cover letter is pretty straightforward if you know its purpose.

You should think of a cover letter as a direct message to the hiring manager. You will briefly explain why you are so suitable for this position. It doesn’t sound that difficult when we put it this way, does it?

Here’s a format you could follow:

• Introduce yourself (and make an impression) – To start, give a brief description of your work experience and state why you are interested in working at the company you are applying for. You can also mention 1-2 of your best professional achievements to make a good first impression.
• Here’s how to excel – Identify the 3 most important requirements in a job posting. Then devote a paragraph to explain how to fulfill each requirement. For example, if the requirement is “Facebook Ad Experience”, state how you have done Facebook ads in the past and how you perfected it.
• Wrap it up and thank it – Thank the reader for reading your cover letter and suggest next steps. For example, “If you want to know more about my experience with Project XYZ, I’d love to chat!”

All clear? Just in case, you can also check out a real-life example below:

Does writing a cover letter still seem a little complicated? In fact, to really explain everything you need to know about cover letters, we need to write a completely new guide on the subject. We did this – thank you later! If you want to learn more about writing a cover letter, see our full guide. Or if you need a little more inspiration, check out these 5+ cover letter examples.

How to Ace Your Next Interview

• You have perfected both your resume and cover letter. Now is the time for the next (and last) step – the terrible job interview.
• Whether you’re extroverted or introverted, you probably hate the interview process. After all, it’s not the most fun experience to sit there and turn you into hell while someone is nudging your past experiences.
• Still, did you know that most interviewers ask the same questions? Yes – all you have to do is learn how to answer the most common interview questions and you’ll be away from getting your dream job!
• Would you like to learn more? Check out our complete guide to Job Interview Questions and Answers.