Thursday, April 05, 2007

Resume style guide and formatting

Most employers are simply used to seeing the reverse chronological and for this reason it is often the safe option. This however does not necessarily mean that it is the best way to showcase your skills or you abilities.

Advantages of the reverse chronological format:

• It is the most common style therefore it is easily recognised by employers
• It showcases your career progression and makes it easy to track your promotions and career advances
• It is relatively easy to write and build on

Disadvantages of the reverse chronological format:

• It is easy to see career breaks or periods of unemployment
• If you are a casual employee or a temp it may make you look erratic and there may be too many jobs too list on a concise resume forcing you to choose the most relevant
• If you have changed industries your resume may look disorganised and lose focus

The other option to investigate is the skills based resume format. This highlights your skill sets in different areas of employment which may span across your entire career. For example you may have a heading called administrative in which you list your experience in this area of expertise. The key to remember is to not be too vague an employer still wants to know how you applied your skills not just take your word for it that you know how to use them.

For example

Administrative Managed the sales lead database for the Sydney and Melbourne offices for ABC Pty Ltd. Created an electronic filing system for DEF Pty Ltd over a period of 3 months.

This still shows you applying your knowledge and showing where you applied it but by combining your skills with different companies and jobs you are focusing on your abilities rather than just your title. This may work for you if you have been a casual employee for a few years. For example if you worked for a recruitment agency and were working on assignments that spanned in length from 2 days to 12 months. Rather than writing each about each two week assignment you have undertaken you can focus on the tasks you performed and make your resume look less flighty.

This type of resume may also work for someone in a freelance or design field who may take on short jobs but basically each job has the same function.

Advantages of a skill based resume:

• Doesn't show gaps in employment as easily
• Combines similar strengths and task from various jobs and makes you appear more focused
• Can highlight a particular talent you have, for example desktop publishing or design

Disadvantages of a skill based resume:

• Some employers just won't understand it and may find it too complicated
• Some employers may not like the fact that it is harder to see the career history
• It can be harder to write as you really have to think about what skills you can draw from each job and how to categorise them
• If it's not well written it can look like a bit of a jumble of words rather than a concise document

Your third option is to take a little from each and create a mixed resume. Use part of your resume to focus on your skill set but still provide a summary of your work history in reverse chronological order. This may be a good option particularly if you are unsure of what the employer is looking for and if you are new to writing the skill based resume style.

As a casual who works for a recruitment agency this may prove to be a good combination. For example you can write that you have worked for ABC Recruitment for 2 years and then you can list some of the companies you have been contracted out to. On the next page you can list your skills and what your proficiency is. This makes it very clear about who you are, why you have so many different jobs and where your strengths lie.

So to sum up before you choose your format ask yourself these questions:

• What sort of resume would the employer be expecting?
• Which style will best showcase my career history?
• Which style do I feel most confident writing?

Now you can write your new resume, good luck!