Either you are surfing the internet, watching TV or listening to the radio in your car. A commercial advertisement hits you. The average advertisement time in a 60-minute TV program is over 10 minutes. Advertisers spent billion in advertisement alone.
Why is so much money spent in marketing? The answer is obvious. Because it helps them sell their brand.
This is why small investment in creating a professional resume works. Because when it’s done right by a team of experts, it works! An effective resume is a sales pitch to a prospective employer. You are the salesman. Your experience, talents, and education are the products. A well-written resume is one of your best marketing tools. It’s a commercial and you want the hiring manager to want this product. With regards to getting a job, there are five basic resume types:
- Chronological Resume
- Functional Resume
- Hybrid Resume
- Targeted Resume
- Infographic Resume
What is Chronological Resume
A chronological resume starts by listing your work history, with the most recent position listed first. Below your most recent job, you list your other jobs in reverse chronological order. Employers typically prefer this type of resume because it’s easy to see what jobs you have held and when you have worked at them. This is the most common resume type.
The two advantages of a chronological resume are:
- It lets the hiring manager easily see how you’ve progressed in your career
- It puts your most relevant work experience at the top, where it’ll be seen first
Who Should Use It
A chronological resume is ideal if you have no major gaps between your previous jobs, consistent progression throughout your career, and a long record of accomplishments and skills in the industry you’re applying to.
What is Functional Resume
A functional resume focuses on your skills and experience, rather than on your chronological work history. Instead of having a “work history” section at the top of your resume, you might have a “professional experience” or “accomplishments” section that lists various skills you have developed over the years.
A functional resume also sometimes includes a resume summary or headline at the top, which details a person’s skills and achievements. A functional resume might not include one’s employment history at all or might have a concise list of work history at the bottom of the resume.
Who Should Use It
A functional resume will likely suit you if you’re:
- New to the workforce
- Changing industries
- Someone with sizeable gaps in your work history
What is Hybrid Resume
A hybrid resume is a mix between a chronological resume and a functional resume. At the top of the resume is a list of one’s skills and qualifications. Below this is one’s chronological work history. However, the work history is not the focus of the resume and typically does not take up much space on the resume.
With this type of resume, you can highlight the skills you have that are relevant to the job you are applying for, as well as provide your chronological work history. After all, most employers want to see your chronological work history, even if that history is not very extensive.
Similar to the other resume types, a hybrid resume also contains:
- A section detailing your educational background
- Your contact details
- A resume introduction
Who Should Use It
Compared with the other types of resume formats, a combination resume is a good choice if you have any of the following to showcase:
- Technical skills you’ve developed over a long, specialized career
- Transferable skills, with full details of your work history
What is Targeted Resume
A targeted resume is one that’s tailored to each company you apply to.
A targeted resume is a resume that is customized to specifically highlight the experience and skills you have that are relevant to the job you are applying for. It takes more work to write a targeted resume than to click to apply with your existing resume. However, it’s well worth the effort, especially when applying for jobs that are a perfect match for your qualifications and experience.
Try to write a targeted resume for every job. Employers can easily see when you submit a generic resume, rather than thinking about why you are qualified for that specific job..
Who Should Use It
Because it’s much more likely to get callbacks, you should try to write targeted resumes. This is especially true when the job matches your experience and skills.
Tip
Non-targeted (or general) resumes still have their uses. They’re useful for when you go to job fairs, because you might not know beforehand which companies will attend, and what job roles they have open.
What is Infographic Resume
Infographic resumes include graphic design elements in addition to or instead of text. A traditional resume uses text to list a candidate’s work experience, education, and skills, while an infographic resume uses layout, color, design, formatting, icons, and font styling to organize content.
Who Should Use It
If you’re an aspiring graphic designer, you can use an infographic resume because you can talk about your design skills and demonstrate them at the same time.
However, be careful:
Around 75% of companies use — or plan to use — resume-reading software called applicant tracking systems (ATS) or find resumes from job portals. ATS software or job portals scans your resume and decides if it contains enough resume keywords to make it worth showing to a hiring manager.
Many graphic elements used on this type of resume are unreadable to an applicant tracking system. Only use an infographic resume if you’re applying for a graphic design job, or you’re certain the company doesn’t use an applicant tracking system. Otherwise, a plain-text resume works fine.
Tip
If you have your heart set on using a creative resume template, we have plenty of options that balance great design features with applicant tracking system-friendly formatting.