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A resume is a staple in the job search process. Unfortunately many fail to put in the time to present themselves professionally and obtain that coveted interview. Although a resume won't guarantee your chances of landing a job, a resume that is lacking will almost insure your chances in not moving forward in the hiring process.
The first thing that you need to decide is whether you will use a chronological resume, functional resume, or combination of the two. A chronological resume focuses on an applicant's education and experience. This is by far the most common type of resume and is meant to provide an employer with a snapshot of your employment history. Employers tend to prefer this type of resume since it helps them identify any gaps in employment and is very easy to follow.
The second type of resume is known as a functional resume. A functional resume focuses on skills or qualifications as opposed to places of employment. This type of resume is typically organized by skill, and is often used to not draw a giant red flag to gaps in employment. However, this type of resume may also work well for someone who wants to downplay their past employers and actual job titles in the hopes of transitioning to a different career path.
The last type of resume, often referred to as a chrono-functional resume, incorporates both education and experience requirements along with a focus on skills or qualifications. This help satisfy employer requirements while also allowing an applicant the opportunity to highlight several important skills.
Unfortunately the best resume layout in the world will not make up for a lack of content, so that is going to be our focus. So lets go through this resume section by section and discuss some different things you can do to enhance your own resume.
The first section includes your contact information. This is very straightforward. The only thing I'll mention is that you want to have a professional appearing email address to display on your resume. You certainly don't want the employer getting the wrong idea.
The next section that we commonly see on resumes is an objective. To be honest, I'm not the biggest advocate for an objective section. The reason is that many objectives that I have seen don't tell me really anything new. For example, writing to obtain a position in sales doesn't add a great deal of value since your application expresses your desire to obtain a position in sales. The second reason I dislike an objective section is that they are largely redundant. Since I recommend that everyone drafts a cover letter tailored to the employer, an objective states nothing new.
In a cover letter an applicant will express how they heard about the job, the reason they are applying, and why the believe they are a good fit for the job. So including a watered down version of this in your resume does nothing more than waste valuable space.
The next section we have here is labeled experience. This is where an applicant lists in reverse chronological order the jobs that they have held. Employers commonly want to see names of employers, dates of employment, and the position that you held as well. Since a job title does not necessary help explain what you did on the job, you may want to list the tasks, duties, and responsibilities of your position as well.
The next section we have listed is education. Like experience, an applicant's education is also listed in reverse chronological order. In addition to listing the institution and your degree, it is also a good practice to list your grade point average. The last thing that I recommend is to list any awards, accomplishments, or professional societies that you were a part of. These can listed in bullet form under the institution and can help set you apart from other applicants.
The last section in our example resume is a skills section. This section is a common feature in a functional resume. By including a skills section an applicant has the opportunity to highlight relevant skills. What this means is that the skills you list should be important to the position that you are applying for.
