Chronological resume or functional resume?

No matter your level of experience, background, or industry, the main purpose of your resume is to show off your best professional achievements and attributes. Your resume must be written in a way that minimizes any weaknesses you have. It should be a carefully thought-out marketing document that emphasizes your biggest selling points in a compelling narrative.

The resume format you choose will have a big impact on the success of your resume. There are three types of resume formats the chronological format, the functional format, and the hybrid format. Each of these formats is ideal for different career situations. Considering your unique career path, the resume format that works for you will vary. Let’s look at each resume format in detail:

Chronological resume format

The traditional chronological resume format is the most popular resume format out of the three. This is the format that hiring managers are the most familiar with. The traditional chronological resume format showcases a job seeker’s career in reverse chronological order so that their most recent experiences are listed first.

The chronological resume format makes it easier for employers to review your career history. There is also more space for you to talk about your experience and professional achievements. Since this resume format hides no details, hiring managers regard it as a more honest resume format. Most ATSs are familiar with the chronological format as well.

On the downside, the chronological resume emphasizes recent roles even if they are less relevant to the applied job than older roles you have had. If you lack work experience, this type of resume is not the one for you as it relies heavily on the career history. There is also less chance for you to emphasize your skills and other qualifications that are relevant to the new role.

Functional resume format

The functional resume format is quite different from the chronological resume format. The functional resume format is built to emphasize skills over work experience. This resume is also known as the skills-based resume format. Details such as job titles, relevant years, and former employers of your work history have little to no importance in the functional resume format.

Since the functional resume highlights skills over work experience, it is ideal for situations where employers want to gauge the skill level of a job seeker. The functional resume format is very easy to tailor for a job application as there is no need to go into the specifics of your past roles. Since you don’t need to follow a chronological order when listing skills in this resume format, you can arrange your skills by their importance and priority.

One of the biggest disadvantages of the functional resume format is that it is quite difficult for a potential employer to get an idea of the employment history of a candidate through this resume type. Hiring managers may find the document hard to navigate and read. Most hiring managers believe that you are trying to hide something like an employment gap or a negative experience when you use the functional resume format, so the initial impression will not be a good one. The functional resume may also appear as if it lacks focus.

Depending on your unique career situation, you will need to choose either one of these two formats, or go for a hybrid resume format that combines the benefits of both these types. No matter which resume format you decide on, our professional resume writers can help you. Visit www.resumemansion.com and choose your favorite resume package today!