Which is the Best Type of Resume?

"So what type of resume would be the best?"

Before you sit down to write your resume, this is probably one of the things that run through your mind.

Let us analyze each resume type, considering the pros and cons of each, and finally, we should be able to reach our verdict.

Okay, let's start.

So, what types exist?

The following three, I am sure you are acquainted with them by now:

Chronological
Functional
Combination

First stop, chronological resume.

As the name implies, this is a resume which focuses on your work experience and academic qualifications; particularly when these where done.

This is the type most of us are acquainted with; in fact, most of us, when we think of a resume, all we envision is a list of academic qualifications or job experience in reverse chronology.

So what is so cool about this type of resume?

For one thing, it is quite easy to set up. You don’t have to sweat it much here. All you got to do is know your career objective; remember what qualifications you have; and when you got these qualifications.

After having all these clearly in mind, you are ready to write your resume. Just like that.

Another thing that makes this resume so ideal is that it focuses on what most employers are naturally interested in: work experience and academic qualifications. Therefore, if you have a lot of job experience and papers to flaunt; this type of resume will work particularly well for you.

The downside of this type of resume is that there will be plenty of other candidates with the same qualifications as yours (perhaps even better), and hence, it will be very difficult for you to stand out amidst all the competition. Hence, as you can clearly see, this type of resume favours those who have very good qualifications and work experiences. If, for example, you are just graduating from college, this kind of resume will work against you because it will show how inexperienced you are.

Okay, enough said about the chronological resume. Let’s turn our attention to the Functional Resume.

What type of resume is this?

Simply put, a functional resume focuses on your abilities and what you are able to do. As opposed to a chronological resume that simply focuses on what you have done, a functional resume focuses on what you can do.

There are a lot of advantages to writing a functional resume. I believe it more accurately represents your professional abilities than a chronological resume.

It does not merely list your work history, no. Rather, it focuses on how well you performed your duties and what you achieved in the various positions you served in.

Furthermore, considering that the focus is not on your work history, a functional resume affords you the leeway to talk more about your personal traits that you believe can be advantageous to the career you are seeking. For example, if you are a determined individual who does not give up in the face of disappointment and does not stop till she achieves what she is working at, you can easily work this information into a functional resume, ,and it can score you some marks, so to speak.

Another added advantage to this type of resume is that if you are fresh from school, or do not have much work experience, you can still write an effective resume, placing the emphasis on any special accomplishments you may have achieved or any skills or abilities you possess.

Therefore, we see that a functional resume allows a candidate great latitude in the way they customize their resume.

However, with freedom comes a measure of trouble. Some candidates may exaggerate their abilities and accomplishments and therefore, to a certain extent, a functional resume may not portray a true picture of what a candidate can really do. It may contain a number of assertions that may, eventually, end up being untrue.

Additionally, a badly written functional resume may have no relevance to the job being sought for, especially where the position requires certain, outlined qualifications. Candidates may hand in a resume which makes assertions of what they can do but with no work experience to back up their claims. Therefore, such a resume can be frowned upon by an employer that is seeking particular qualifications or work experience.

Since a functional resume does not stipulate a strict layout of job titles and dates, it is easy to come up with a very poor layout, making it hard to see the most important items. Such a poorly formatted resume may lower your points with the employer who may opt for a neater, well-formatted chronological resume.

We have talked about a functional resume and a chronological resume. Let’s now talk about a Combination Resume.

As the name implies, this type of resume is a combination of features of the chronological resume and a functional resume.

It is true to say that a combination resume combines the best of both worlds. I would rather have you think of a combination resume as a functional resume (one which focuses on your abilities) with a little summary of your work history—a list of job positions, employers and years would suffice.

A combination resume therefore allows you to work your work experience into your resume, along with strong assertions of what you can do. This is clearly an advantage, because if you have a few qualifications and or work experience, but would still like to mention them, you can easily include them without feeling bad about how few they are. Similarly, if you have a lot of work experience, but would still love to talk about some of your special abilities, you can easily achieve this with a combination resume.

A tiny disadvantage of this type of resume is that your work experience is pushed out of the limelight and not given enough coverage. If the career you are seeking emphasizes work experience, a combination resume may disadvantage you in this aspect, because, it pushes the relevant work experience to the bottom of the resume.

Having talked about these major resume types (by the way, there also other minor types, such as target resumes and mini resumes), which resume type would be most appropriate for you?

I can’t give a single, straight-forward answer here. What works well for one may not work well for others. Circumstances will dictate what kind of resume to write.

To determine the best possible resume for your circumstances and needs, you need to consider the following:

The Job Position: the specifics of the job you are applying for will help you determine which resume would work well for you. For example if the position requires tones of work experience and a bunch of academic qualifications, a chronological resume will be the best for you.
Your qualifications and experience: if you have a lot of work experience a chronological resume would be ideal; but if you have little or no work experience (for instance, if you re just fresh out of high school, a functional resume might just be the best for you).
Your employer: Yes, try to put yourself in the shoes of your employer. What is he looking for? Is he interested in work experience? Someone with a record of successful accomplishments? Someone with abilities and traits that can help him solves work-related problems? The answers to these questions will help you determine which resume to choose, and more importantly, how to tailor it accordingly.

So, now, after you have determined which resume to write; how do you actually go about the writing process?

That’s a very good question; and that is the one we will consider next.

Stay tuned!

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