Resume Styles: Chronological vs Functional Resume

Resume Styles: Chronological vs Functional Resume

There are two basic resume formats or styles:

• chronological resume
• functional resume

Chronological Resume

The chronological resume format is designed to present your career information by dates, beginning with your present or most recent position.

This resume format stresses the positions you have held and the companies where you have worked. The chronological resume format is most appropriate for people who can show a long labor history with no large gaps between jobs;

also when you are not changing drastically your career direction.

Functional Resume

The skill-based or functional resume allows you to play down gaps in your experience since it emphasizes your abilities and accomplishments without providing detailed background information on where and when you acquired these skills.

This resume format is especially suitable, among other situations, for people entering the job market for the first time, recent graduates with little work experience, people who are going back to the job market, and job seekers in the middle of a career change who want to emphasize their transferable skills.

These skills may have been gained through paid employment, volunteer work, and hobbies.