The single most important thing while applying for a job is your Resume. What you write and how you write it has a direct impact on your job hunt score. There can be various ways you can build a resume. In this post, we have put together three best templates – depending on the kind of skills you want to show case. And how you want to do so. Read on and follow the links for the sample layouts!

Chronological Resume: For the Star

This format of resume is most popular and common. It is almost always sought after by the employer for its efficient timeline layout. The contents, i.e, your work experience, education and other details are listed in a reverse chronological order – the most recent being on top. Each position you list has to be supplemented by the qualifications you hold for the position and accomplishments achieved while in that position. Your education section is to have your latest degree first followed by any other degrees you may have acquired previously, and information about your schooling (up to 10 +2). Additionally a Skills section would help you to highlight any additional skills-centric workshop/certificate courses you may have participated in (again listed in reverse chronological order with the most recent one being on top).

Pros:

If your career graph has been steadily growing with little or no slack, the chronological format is the best format to use. It instantly communicates your diligence to your prospective employer. The reviewer of your resume gets a sense of the amount of work you have been able to accomplish and skills you have been able to acquire across a given span of time.

Cons:

If your career has had its hibernating moments, the timeline makes it apparent. Thus, this format, which focusses more on the timeline of your career and positions held at various points instead of your overall skills, may not work for you while designing your resume.

A sample Chronological Resume:

http://jobsearch.about.com/library/samples/blretailresume.htm

Functional Resume: For the Jack of All Trades

Going by the name, a ‘Functional’ resume is one which focuses more on an elaboration of your skills and experiences rather than a timeline-d format of positions held by you. Thus, if you have skills in the categories of Human Resources, Communication, Customer Service, and so on, your skills, experience and accomplishments pertaining to these categories are to be listed in bullet points under each heading. It has to be followed by a separate heading – ‘Employment’ in which you list your work order in reverse chronological order. This format gives more focus to skills than your work experience, however any kind of resume has to have a section in which your employment history is listed.

Pros:

Emphasis on potential through emphasis on skills, hence a good way to show the reviewer that you do have potential even if you may not have acquired adequate work experience. Excellent for candidates with diverse education and experience – helps display a more vibrant and flexible skill set.

Cons:

Unless properly structured, it may be a struggle for the employer to make sense of your objectives. In that case, your resume is bound to be eliminated in the screening stage itself – cannot blame the reviewer for not having the patience to decode your resume. More so because, this format doesn’t show your job progression clearly. You have to be extremely conscious of the fact that yours is not the only resume the reviewer has to go through, this consciousness will help you cut redundancy and be efficient while structuring your resume.

A sample Functional Resume:

http://jobsearch.about.com/library/samples/blresumefunct.htm

Combination Resume: For the Yoda Master

This format lets you have the best of the Chronological Resume and the Functional Resume. It helps you highlight your skills as well as your progressive work experience in a timeline format.

Pros:

Ideal for you if your career has been completely free of glitches and you have more achievements than you can possibly put down on paper (if that’s the case, take care to curb the arrogance which may be apparent through how you write!). It gives the employer the satisfaction of knowing your work history and also your potential through an evaluation of your skills which you may list.

Cons:

Making this resume requires a lot of time and patience. Golden words to strictly adhere to while writing it: ‘Be efficient, cut the redundancy (and the arrogance!)’.

A sample Combination Resume:

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/resume-examples/fl/software-engineer-resume.htm

Hope this post helps you to write your resume right! 🙂