The most critical part of a resume is the top two-thirds of the first page. Proper formatting and the right keywords for your industry are needed here, or you risk your resume being excluded from the first selection. There are five basic types of resumes:
Reverse Chronological: This is the familiar, traditional format, which starts with your most recent position and then lists your previous positions, going back in time. An advantage of this is that it can show an uninterrupted work history with steady progression toward your career goal.
Functional: This format lists your major areas of experience, from the most to the least developed skills, without linking them to a particular work position. This format can be useful to highlight the skills or functions that are looked for in the positions you are seeking.
Combination: This is the current resume of choice in North America. This format uses elements of the functional as well as the reverse chronological resume format. It may list your skills, assets and attributes either in an executive summary or a bulleted format, and then presents your work history in reverse chronological order.
Online/Electronic/E mail: A visually bland document, this format has the same text as the paper version, but with the formatting and design elements removed. All bolding and italics are made plain, the text is left justified, and bullets are replaced with asterisks. Just like a paper copy, first impressions count! When an online resume is viewed, it needs to be correct visually. We can do that for you!
Scannable: This is a specialized format for your resume which is designed to be scanned and stored in a computer database by employers. They can then search this database for the applicants with the needed skills. A scannable resume uses fonts and type styles that are easily “read” by scanners. It also has the proper keywords that a database searcher looks for to make your resume appear in a list of relevant applicants.
