Formatting Your Resumé for Success: Tips and Tricks

Why is choosing a correct resumé format important?

Choosing the right resumé format is essential to highlighting your experience in a way that suits your professional history. Aspects of your professional history such as gaps in your employment, a move, or a re-entry into the workforce after a long absence can become more obvious without a format that works with or around them. The right format allows you to highlight what makes you qualified without drawing attention to these aspects. Let us examine the best resumé formats for each scenario and what they entail.

The basic resume formats

Chronological/reverse chronological 

Caroline Banton of Placement says that this resumé format is generally best for those with a steady career path with no gaps or changes in location. This resumé format is exactly what its name suggests — an arrangement of experience newest to oldest (or vice versa, in the case of reverse chronological). Progression from a junior to senior position in the same company, for example, is where this format works best. The chronological arrangement ensures that attention easily gets drawn to gaps in employment (or lack of employment), moves, or changes in industries (see Indeed Canada for their take).

Skills/functional format

This format places more emphasis on skills rather than chronology of your work experience, using a skills summary that aligns to your professional history. With a skills format, events like gaps in your employment are less obvious and your experience is still well-presented. Amy Michalenko of The Muse adds that this format is also great for anyone who has little to no experience (or whose experience is solely from volunteering) or anyone who wishes to transition to a new field using their current skill set.

The combination format

The combination format offers the best of both worlds, using a chronological arrangement of work experience coupled with a skills summary. This format takes a little more skill to pull off effectively; those with considerable experience or those who want to highlight skills and experience equally benefit most from this format. The added skills summary means that more ground can be covered in less space while also offering a chronological summary. In addition, Stav Ziv of The Muse offers a few other scenarios in which the combination format is useful:

• Recent graduates with lots of volunteer or internship experience, but little professional experience — a combination of the two formats means you can use a larger skills section to compensate for having a smaller body of experience.

• Those with gaps in employment — because the skills section usually comes first, it tends to take attention away from these gaps.

Niche resumé formats

Curriculum vitae (CV)

CVs are specifically for those targeting positions in academia (professors, deans, faculty members, researchers etc.) and members of professional faculties such as medicine and law, according to Regina Borsellino of The Muse. Their purpose is to highlight aspects of an academic career such as publications, grants, awards, papers, experiments and research. Charles Duquette of the University of Maryland says that CV resumés change frequently and are longer than a traditional resumé. However, Duquette also states they generally should be submitted in an abridged form of up to four pages, even though they can be as long as 10.

The CV includes the following, according to Duquette and Borsellino:

• Contact information

• Education (focusing on higher forward)

• Teaching, work and research experience (as either separate sections or one combined)

• Conference presentations and attendance

• Honours/awards

• Grants/funding

• Professional affiliations and memberships of learned societies

• References (two of which should be academic, to a maximum of three, Duquette says)

The creative resumé

According to Duquette, creative resumés are generally geared towards those working on specific contract work.  At the most basic level, creative resumés should be used by artists, however it can be altered for other creative positions such as web design, graphic design or architecture. According to Indeed and Duquette, the creative format generally includes:

• Contact information

• Professional summary

• Education and training

• Professional or union memberships

• Experience

• Bibliography of publications you or your work has been published in

• Productions (if applicable; list your most impressive roles)

• Honours and awards

• Skills (with a focus on special skills)

Military to civilian transition resumés

A specific format must be used that highlights your military experience while making it easy to understand (translating it into civilian terms), says Samuel Johns of ResuméGenius. Generally, the military resumé can be formatted as a chronological, skills or combination resumé, Johns says.  However, these formats typically include both a career objective statement and a summary statement, as well as a section describing your military history, according to Duquette. They follow this outline:

• A summary statement and objective statement tailored for your target position

• Skills and abilities (including those acquired during your military service)

• Professional experience

• Military experience

• Education and military training

Final note: federal government resumés

Federal government resumés vary according to your region; the guidelines may also change regularly. Ensure you consult your federal government’s website and follow their resumé writing guidelines.

References

Banton, Caroline. “When to Use a Chronological Resume and How to Write One.” Placement Learn, 21 Dec. 2021, www.placement.com/learn/chronological-resume.

Borsellino, Regina. “What Is a Curriculum Vitae, and Do You Need One?” The Muse, 6 Aug. 2020, www.themuse.com/advice/what-is-curriculum-vitae-example.

Duquette, Charles. “Other Special Resume Formats - Choosing a Resume Format.” Coursera, www.coursera.org/learn/resume-writing/lecture/S3D70/other-special-resume-formats. Accessed 16 Sept. 2024.   

Duquette, Charles. “Two Special Resume Formats - Choosing a Resume Format.” Coursera, www.coursera.org/learn/resume-writing/lecture/sRvrp/two-special-resume-formats. Accessed 14 Aug. 2024. 

Indeed Editorial Team. “Chronological Resume vs. Functional Resume | Indeed.Com Canada.” Indeed Canada, 1 July 2024, ca.indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/chronological-resume-vs-functional.

Indeed Editorial Team. “How to Write Artistic Resumes (with Examples and Tips).” Indeed Canada, 28 June 2024, ca.indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/artistic-resumes

Indeed Editorial Team. “How to Write a Skills-Based Resume in 5 Steps | Indeed.Com.” Indeed, 28 June 2024, www.indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/write-skills-resume.

Milachenko, Amy. “Is a Skills-Based Resume Right for You?” The Muse, The Muse, 18 May 2021, www.themuse.com/advice/is-a-skillsbased-resume-right-for-you.

Military OneSource. “Writing a Civilian Resume for the First Time.” Military OneSource, 3 Mar. 2020, www.militaryonesource.mil/education-employment/for-service-members/how-to-write-a-resume/.

Ziv, S. (2019, September 18). What’s a combination resume and how do you write one? The Muse. https://www.themuse.com/advice/combination-resume-hybrid-resume-format-example