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Resume Types Revealed

There are three major categories for resumes – the chronological, the skills resume, and the creative/combination resume.

The most common and most useful is the first – the Chronological resume. The key feature of this type of resume is the listing of your jobs held from the most recent position held on the top to the oldest. Be sure to list dates, job title, name of the organization, address, and your description of duties and responsibilities. Use action verbs that are transferable to the work you are seeking. The other sections of the resume – education and affiliations should also follow the chronological format with the most recent achievements listed on top.

The second type of resume is the Skills resume. This approach is more successful for individuals who have limited paid work experience, are in career transition, or who have not worked for awhile. This type of resume will help you to present your strengths and avoid displaying your weaknesses. In the skills resume, you will group your experiences under your major skill areas. For example, if one of your strengths were accounting or bookkeeping skills, then you would list your activities from jobs, schooling, or volunteer opportunities that support this. The skills resume only makes sense when your major skills help to qualify you for the job you are seeking.

Finally, the creative/combination resume is the most volatile style. This type of resume is not encouraged unless the position you are seeking welcomes creative flair and ingenuity, and even then they can be risky. These resumes may combine chronological and skills techniques but defy traditionalism and may stray from the norm by using unusual paper colors, sizes and shapes, or art and decorative borders. The creative resume may be very successful for a small niche of jobseekers, but for most positions a chronological resume is preferred.