Types and Styles of Resumés

Here are some points on the types and styles of resumés while explaining things like their style and format, and how to select the one that is right for you.  These formats are typical for jobs in North America.

Resumé Styles

1. There are three typical resumé styles: the chronological resumé, the functional resumé, and the hybrid resumé, aka combination resumé. 
2. The style that works for you is dependent on your industry/sector or skill set. 

Resumé Style: Chronological Resumé

1. The chronological resumé arranges the experience and education entries in reverse chronological order (most recent at the top).  
2. It showcases the experience more than anything else on the resumé.
3. It is the most common resumé used in North America.  However, job seekers are beginning to have more success landing interviews with the hybrid resumé.
4. The chronological resumé is most suited for jobs that require a certain number of years of experience. 
5. The chronological resumé affords most of its space to the experience section with a small section reserved for qualifications and skills. 
6. The qualifications and skills can be written under the highlights of qualifications section (typical for Canadian resumés) or the profile and skills section (typical for U.S. resumés). 

Resumé Style: Functional Resumé

1. The functional resumé also arranges the experience and education entries in reverse chronological order (most recent at the top).  
2. It showcases skills and achievements more than years of experience. 
3. It is the least common resumé used in North America but is often most effective for creative sectors, like art, music, and film, and can carry weight when applying to research and development jobs.   
4. The functional resumé is most suited for jobs that have specific asks in the skills or type of experience required. 
5. The functional resumé affords most of its space to the qualifications and skills section (which can also contain some career highlights) and simply lists the job history in the experience section. 
6. The qualifications and skills can be written under the highlights of qualifications section (typical for Canadian resumés) or the profile and skills section (typical for U.S. resumés). 

Resumé Style: Hybrid Resumé

1. The hybrid resumé, aka combination resumé, also arranges the experience and education entries in reverse chronological order (most recent at the top).
2. The hybrid resumé is a combination of both the chronological resumé and the hybrid resumé. 
3. It showcases both skills and experience.
4. The hybrid resumé is becoming more and more popular in North America, as employers are now placing equal emphasis on skills and years of experience. 
5. Job seekers are beginning to have more success landing interviews with the hybrid resumé.
   
6. This resumé often helps the job seeker better understand the employer's needs. 
7. The functional resumé is most suited for jobs that focus on both the years of experience as well as have specific asks in the skills and type of experience required.
8. The hybrid resumé affords just about equal space to the qualifications and skills section and the experience section.  Either or both sections can contain some career highlights. 
   
9. The qualifications and skills can be written under the highlights of qualifications section (typical for Canadian resumés) or the profile and skills section (typical for U.S. resumés). 

Resumé Types

1. There are three typical resumé types: the master resumé, the networking resumé, and the targeted resumé.
2. The type you use is dependent on the function. 

Resumé Type: Master Resumé

1. The master resumé is a catalogue of every skill, experience, education, and training you have accumulated. 
2. It can be tailored to have relevant sections like a targeted resumé, tailored meaning the information is under relevant sections employers expect to see (e.g., profile/highlights, experience, education, etc.)
3. The master resumé is your reference for creating your networking resumés and your targeted resumés. 
4. It is a reference for you, and perhaps for your employment coaches and mentors.  It should not be shared with the employer, as it is too much information for them. 
5. Your master resumé has no restriction on length, it can be over ten pages long.   
6. You can name your master resumé: First Name Last Name_Master Resumé_Month Year. 

Resumé Type: Networking Resumé

1. The networking resumé is a collection of relevant skills, experience, education and training for a particular set of job types or career direction. 
2. It can be tailored to have relevant sections like a targeted resumé, tailored meaning the information is under relevant sections employers expect to see (e.g., profile/highlights, experience, education, etc.).
3. The networking resumé is what you share while you are networking; you share it with the people in your network who can help you find work, and you can permit them to forward it to persons they know in your field of work so you can connect with them.  You can also use this resumé at job fairs. 
4. The networking resumé can cover a range of employers and job titles. 
5. Like the targeted resumé, it should be limited to two pages, three if it has a cover letter on top.  Include a cover letter when sharing it around in your network.  Cover letters are optional at job fairs. 
6. You can name your networking resumé: First Name Last Name_Networking Resumé_Month Year. 

Resumé Type: Targeted Resumé

1. The targeted resumé is geared toward a job posting or job description at an employer or organization. 
2. The targeted resumé is what you send out in response to a job posting/opening. 
3. It should be tailored, meaning it should have information under relevant sections employers expect to see (e.g., profile/highlights, experience, education, etc.).
4. The targeted resumé matches your qualifications and skills to the employers' needs, and details relevant experience, education and training.  
5. It uses keywords from the job postings and/or industry keywords. 
6. Like the networking resumé, it should be limited to two pages, three if it is a cover letter on top. 
7. When a resumé has a cover letter on top (with the cover letter as the first page and the resumé as the following two pages), it is called a combination resumé (not to be confused with a hybrid resumé).
   
8. Alternatively, you can separate the cover letter and resumé into two separate files.  But using a combination resumé (of a cover letter and resumé in one file) is acceptable in the industry both for applying for jobs and for networking. 
9. Some applications ask you to copy and paste your cover letter in the cover letter section of the application (which you can do) and they ask you to upload your resumé (and you can either use the combination resumé or the resumé separately). 
10. You can name your targeted resumé: First Name Last Name_Organization_Job Title (Job ID)_Month_Year. 
11. Sometimes applications will say "error, file name too large" or have an unnamed error when you are trying to upload your resumé.  You can shorten the filename and then reattach it.  You can omit in the suggested order of priority if the character space is limited: Organization, Month, Year, Job Title, or Job ID.
12. The filename does not include the word "resumé" as the employer will understand the file is a resumé when you use the file for a job application. 

Cover Letter

1. The cover letter, aka letter of intent, is the letter on top of a resumé that introduces yourself and states that your resumé is attached. 
2. Avoid sending a naked resumé without its cover letter, especially for a targeted resumé, and even for a networking resumé. 
3. Employers judge your written communication skills based on your resumé as well as your cover letter. 
4. When the cover letter is the first page of a resumé in a file, the resumé is called a combination resumé (not to be confused with a hybrid resumé). 
5. If you are sending your cover letter as a separate file, you can name your cover letter: First Name Last Name_Organization_Job Title (Job ID)_Month_Year_cover.

Summary

Here is a recap on the format of a resumé. 

1. There are three typical resumé styles: the chronological resumé, the functional resumé, and the hybrid resumé, aka combination resumé.
2. All styles list the employment and education entries in reverse chronological order.  The chronological resumé showcases experience, whereas the functional resumé showcases skills and achievements, and the hybrid resumé is a combination of both resumés. 
3.  There are three typical resumé types: the master resumé, the networking resumé, and the targeted resumé.  All of these resumés can be tailored, meaning they should have information under relevant sections employers expect to see (e.g., profile/highlights, experience, education, etc.).
4. The master resumé is a catalogue of all of your skills, experience, education and training, and is used as a reference to make networking resumés and targeted resumés.  You can share the networking resumé in your network, and a targeted resumé is what is sent out to the employer. 
5. The cover letter is the letter on top of a resumé that introduces yourself and states that your resumé is attached.  A resumé should not be sent out naked without a cover letter. 
   

Notes

This article contains no text pictures to ensure that every word can be read aloud by a text-to-speech application. And was tested using Google Chrome’s “Read Aloud” add-on.

Bio

Tiffany Persaud is a freelance writer and resumé writer who has helped dozens of people find jobs they like during the pandemic and coming out of it.

Resources

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References

Benz, Conrad.: "ResumeGenius.: "List on Your Resume"

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: “Find A Better Job”. 2016. Accessed on Nov 22, 2022.