In my opinion, this is the best resume format available for those with working experience and I would highly recommend this format for your “masterpiece” resume. Even for myself, I’m also using this format which I’m sharing as a sample for you to download HERE. A combination or a hybrid of chronological & functional resume elements will emphasize your career history together with its accomplishments and also your skills and expertise. This format also creates the flexibility to market your career when you do not have a specific job field to focus on.

A hybrid resume consists of the combination of components from chronological & functional resume as following:

• Contact information (mailing address, contact # & e-mail)
• Career objective
• Professional summary
• Chronological employment history (avoid dates if your employment history is lack of stability)
• Education history
• Special achievements/rewards

Hybrid resume is a powerful marketing tool for you to secure an interview especially if you have a decent working experience. Make good use of it to your upmost advantage.

Please feel free to leave your comments or e-mail me at career_marketing@resumeweassist.com if you need any resume writing assistance from me.

We can help you attain your career goals!

Comparing functional with chronological resume

Functional resume focuses on your skill & expertise in a specific field rather than in chronological resume focuses on when, where or how you gain them. A preferred resume style if you have some level of expertise in a specific field. It is also a recommended resume format if you have instability in your career history since it does not emphasize on the employment duration. It is also a good alternative for those with lack of working experience but have specific knowledge & skill beneficial to an industry.

A point to take note is that functional resume is a risky resume format if you do not have a very specific target job in mind. The focus of your functional resume should emphasize your expertise and skill to fit into that specific job you are applying for. Essentially, a typical functional resume consist of the following (without any sequential order):

• Contact information (mailing address, contact # & e-mail)
• Career objective
• Functional summary/profile (Summary on your expertise and skills for a specific job)
• Accomplishment/skills/professional expertise (List down and describe each main accomplishment for each main skills or expertise)
• Career history (Provide brief employment history, avoid dates if there is an instability in your employment history)
• Education history

I highly recommend this resume format for fresh graduates. If compared to chronological format, majority of the fresh graduates will have such a hard time to provide their employment history in their resume. It is a known fact that fresh graduate is at the disadvantage in terms of their working experience but many do not realize this disadvantage can be compensated by focusing on their experience and accomplishments in the university or college. For example, they can briefly describe about their final year project, internship program, special award or recognition, list of subject taken, social work or leadership activities & etc.

You can download 2 examples of functional resume thru this link. The first sample is for experience employee and the last sample is for fresh graduate.

I hope these samples will give you some idea about functional resume. If you have any further enquiries, please drop your comments at below or e-mail me at career_advisor@resumeweassist.com.

Thanks

Regards

Yusoff

In this modern day, writing a resume should be easy. By doing a simple Google search, you are able to find millions of sites with resume samples and templates. Ironically, even with technology assistance, resume writing that is supposed to be easy, the quality of the written resume is not up the expectation to deliver the result that many job seekers need.

In Malaysia, one of the common resume format used comes from Jobstreet. With all respect to Jobstreet for their good service & excellent opportunities to job seekers in Malaysia, but sorry to say I do find their resume format to be boring and unattractive. Even the format is not so suitable to be used for all job seekers. Anyway, in today’s article, I’m not going to criticize Jobstreet’s resume format but more on sharing my experience and knowledge on how to effectively choose a suitable resume format or template to fit your career needs.

Just to recap on what I have shared before, resume can be written in 3 common formats which are chronological, functional and chrono-functional format. Today, I’ll elaborate about chronological format.

Chronological resume format

For those who are familiar with Jobstreet’s resume format will realize that the resume format is actually using chronological format.

In my previous article, I wrote that chronological format is not suitable for those job seekers with working experience less than 3 years, fresh graduate, job hopper & prolong unemployement . This is because, this format focuses on your working experience chronologically and any of the stated situation above it will obviously reflect that you are not experience or reliable enough to take up challenging job responsibilities. So imagine if you have working experience that is less than 3 years and blindly using chronological resume format even though you have impressive track records, you chances to attract and convince your future employer to call you up for an interview will be slim. In my coming article, I’ll be sharing about another resume format that is appropriate to be used by those with the above stated situation which is functional format.

In the link below you can download a sample of a chronological resume format. Typically, this format will consist of the following components (not in any particular sequence order except for your name & contact info):

• personal information (full name)

• contact information (mailing address, contact phone # & e-mail)

• career objective (specific/general kind of job you want & your contribution capability)

• career summary/profile (summarize your career history)

• education history

• chronological description of job history/professional

• experience including achivements

• reference (optional/upon request) 

Click here: Sample -Chronological resume

You can download this copy for your future reference

Chronological format is an effective resume format to showcase your working experience. At the same time, by listing down your achievements for each of your working experience, you are able to show that you have the capability to deliver results which is one of the look after criteria by most of the employers. Use this format wisely to your advantage.

If you have any other enquiries about chronological resume format or experience to share, feel free to share it in the comments below. 

Till then,

Take care

Regards

Yusoff

Previously in May, I wrote about the function of a resume. From the article, we understand that resume is a request for an interview. The success of a resume depends on how effective it was written to impress the future employer.

So in today’s article, to effectively write a resume, I’ll be sharing what are the commonly used resume formats and some tips on how to choose the suitable format to suit your career needs.

From my experience, one of the common mistakes done in writing a resume starts by using the unsuitable format. It is like going for a formal dinner wearing a sleeveless t-shirt Even though how impressive your wealth of experience are, you are unable to show them off if you are not using the suitable format. Fundamentally, you will need to be familiar with these formats and based on your level of working experience; you are able to choose the most suitable format for your resume.

The good news is a typical resume format only consists of 3 types. Not much choice for you to choose from so it will be easier for you to make the final decision.

The formats are:

• Chronological
• Functional
• Chrono-functional

I’ll list down the features of each of these formats in point form to ease your understanding. I’ll provide examples and explain the components in these formats in my future articles. 

Chronological resume

ü Most commonly used format.

ü A chronological listing of job titles & responsibility which

      starts with the current or most recent employment and works

      backward to your first job.

ü Good format to demonstrate your career growth

ü Can be used to apply general or non-specific job

ü Suitable for anyone with working experience more than 3 years 

Avoid this format if you are:

·        Fresh graduate with no working experience

·        Working experience less than 3 years

·        Too many job change

·        Prolonged period of unemployment

Using this format will draw your future employer your weaknesses i.e. your lack of specific experience, job hopper and unemployment. The chance for your resume to be screened out for an interview is higher. Functional format will be more suitable for you.

Functional resume

ü Focus on professional skills rather than when, where or how

      you acquired them.

ü Must have specific job to apply in mind.

ü This format is suitable for:

  -   mature professional with extensive experience and expertise

  -   fresh graduate to focus on their knowledge and skill gained in

     college/university

  -   job hoppers to display their skills rather than their employment

     history

  -   people with stagnant or slow career progression to share their

     experience and expertise

  -   people returning to work after a long absence

  – anyone who are lack of working experience but have some

     specific skill or knowledge

This format will only works if you have some impressive skills, experience, knowledge or expertise in any field and have the ability to practice them.

Chrono-functional resume

ü Combination for chronological & functional format.

ü Create the opportunity to focus on professional skills and at

     the same time display your employment history

ü A highly recommended format for those with established

      professional skills and extensive working experience

In my future articles, I will elaborate in details on each of these resume formats especially on their critical components and samples.

Till then,

Take care.

Regards

Yusoff