What is a Chronological Resume?

Most commonly used resume format among job seekers

Also referred to as a reverse-chronological format; most people traditionally

It accommodates all industries and levels of experience

Since the chronological style is so conventional, most veteran HRs also favor it over other formats. Since
its work experience is listed chronologically, this format is really nice for those who want to
demonstrate a vertical career progression.

Order of a Reverse-Chronological Resume

1. Contact Information
This section is as straightforward as it gets. Here are the essentials: Name, address, E-mail, and phone
number. If you want to go above and beyond, then try adding a link to your personal website (if it’s
professional) or your LinkedIn profile.

2. Resume Introduction
A chronological format allows you to choose between three resume introductions: Career Objective,
Professional Profile, and Qualifications Summary. Each introduction comes with it’s own advantages
and disadvantages based on the type of job seeker you are. For instance, a Qualifications Summary is
great for an applicant with a wealth of skills and abilities, which means it’s helpful to experienced
candidates, but not ideal for recent college grads.

Why not functional?

Lately, a lot of job seekers have been asking about the functional resume format. They're looking for ways to handle
embarrassing work history problems — things like lay-offs, gaps in employment, and job hopping.

While it's true that the functional resume does give a nice clean way to deal with these problems, it's not the best way to
go. Why? Because employers don't like functional resumes.

As you can see, the main focus of the functional resume is on the two Major Skill sections in the body. The work history is
tucked away in a separate section and is listed very briefly — just the dates, job title, employer's name, city, and state for
each job.

Sounds like a good idea if your work history isn't pretty. But now let's look at it from the employer's view point. He doesn't
like this format because:

1. It's hard to see where achievements happened. Many job seekers forget to weave that info into their achievement
statements, so it sometimes feels like they're making wild claims that aren't grounded in a time and place. And even if there is
a clue as to where an achievement took place, the employer has to do extra work to cross-check it with the Work History
section to see when it happened. That's a pain in the neck and most busy employers don't want to bother with it.
2. It looks like the job seeker is hiding something... and usually she is. The functional resume is almost never used by job
seekers with perfect histories — and employers know that. When they get a functional resume from a job seeker, a red flag
goes up that something's not right. So when they read the resume (if they read it) their focus is on trying to figure out what's
wrong instead of what's right with the job seeker. Not good!
3. It doesn't fit into Applicant Tracking Systems. Well, it fits and it can be searched for keywords, but the database system
can't match up the achievements with the dates because the functional format has them in separate sections.
4. It's not conventional. Most employers like convention and they want employees who fit into their company conventions.
Starting with your job application, show that you fit in by using a traditional resume format such as a chronological or
combination — not a functional format. An exception to this is in creative fields where being unconventional might pay off.