A resume plays an important role for a candidate searching for a job. It serves as the first meeting with the recruiting officer; therefore, you should try to make this meeting impressive.
Your resume should force a potential employer to call you for a meeting. You can select the best resume format among three popular types.
These formats are particularly useful for fresh graduates, individuals and experienced workers to change their career.
Each format has its specialty to highlight your education, job history, and achievements. There are three types of job resume formats: chronological resume, functional resume, and hybrid resume.
Chronological Resume
This is a commonly used resume format to highlight your work experience and education in a chronological format. You can show a solid job history without significant gaps.
This format is suitable for a consistent work history and education. If you have a stable work history, you can write a chronological resume.
Before writing your resume, you should collect sufficient details about the company want to work for, such as dynamics, organization’s mission and leadership of the organization.
Focus on the details of job description to screen for relevant keywords that you can use in your resume. This type of resume highlights a career summary in chronological order.
This kind of resume can be ideal for someone with great experience. If you have a history of switching careers often or a large gap in your work history, you can showcase your talent better with another format.
Functional Resume
An active functional resume proves helpful to highlight essential abilities, such as coaching, hiring and managing. Instead of writing your work history in chronological order, you can write work history in the base of the resume.
There is no need to worry because the potential employer will still read your experience history, just in a way that puts it in the best light.
You have to divide your resume into sections to highlight essential details. This resume format is useful for the following people:
1. If you have breaks in work history, you can use this resume format.
2. Are you reentering into the workforce? This resume format will be magnificent for you.
3. If you are frequently changing jobs, you should design a functional resume.
4. If you are looking to transition into a new career, you can follow this format.
5. If you can’t decide which resume format is good, you can select this format for you.
This resume format works well in all of the above situations. You should write essential skills and use a bullet list to make this resume easy to read.
Hybrid Resume
This resume is a blend of the functional and chronological resume formats. It is a flexible format to show vital employment records with mounting mobility.
This format is suitable to show off your valuable skills and your work history for a particular position. If you want to change your career and want to highlight your skills, you can use this combination format.
You can also use it to highlight your skills and past jobs. This resume proves helpful for career switches.
Key Elements to Mention in Your Resume
1. If you want to apply for a challenging role, focus on the demands of the organization and job market. Design a perfect resume and start your resume with contact information followed by an objective statement. Write an impressive statement to show your seriousness for this job and your credentials to handle all the required responsibilities.
2. The skills section is the most relevant part of the resume because specific skills are required to be a successful professional. You can consult the job advertisement to learn about which specific skills are required by the potential employer. Write only relevant skills related to budget analyst position such as strategic planning, financial management experience, analytical abilities, etc.
3. Experience section is the most important part of the resume so start it in reverse chronological order. Start with the latest employment histories and write the name of the organization, duration of employment and essential job responsibilities.
4. Education is another critical section to be present on the resume. Write your most recent degree at the top with the name of the institution, duration of the degree program and course majors. Follow with any previous degrees.
5. Your resume should be written in a clear but concise manner because hiring authorities like to read more comprehensive and concise resumes. If you have excessive work experience such as fifteen years at multiple companies, then focus on the last five employments to keep your resume down to 1 to 2 pages.
Common Mistakes to Avoid in Resume
1. Spelling and grammar mistakes are intolerable therefore keep your resume free from all logical and grammatical errors.
2. Keep your resume short, one to two pages, because too many details in the resume will devalue it.
3. Check the requirements of the potential employer before including anything in your resume because your resume should be concise and to-the-point.
If you have had any good or bad experiences with resume writing you would like to share, opinions or questions that you want feedback on, please leave a comment below. We would love to hear it.
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